Toyota FCHV-F, the prototype fuel cell forklift.

Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) has developed a prototype forklift powered by a fuel cell hybrid system.

TICO developed the fuel cell hybrid system with Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), which developed the first fuel cell car prototype in 1996. The technology has been adapted to forklifts and TICO will take advantage of TMC's technology and share components with the automotive field.

The prototype, named Toyota FCHV-F, on display at CeMAT 2005 in Hannover, Germany, is equipped with a Toyota FC stack fuel cell and can carry a maximum 2,500kg load.

Toyota Industrial Equipment Europe product manager Benoit Meunier said fuel cell forklifts could save costs associated with truck usage.

"For diesel forklifts, when the price of diesel increases so does the cost of truck usage and, for electric forklifts, two batteries are needed for long shifts. The price of hydrogen is constant and not linked to the price of petrol," he said.

The fuel cell hybrid system also ensures constant power delivery, unlike electric forklifts, whose batteries must be periodically changed. This makes the forklift ideal for 24-hour shift work at large distribution centres.

Meunier said development of the prototype was one step towards the "perfect forklift".

"We don't want to wait 25 years before we see green trucks on the field. Perhaps this (a cleaner environment) could be done in other ways, for example, developing an engine with lower fuel consumption but we have to do what we can now to make the world a better place," he said.