Ballard sees growth in fuel-cell technology in 2009

Hydrogen fuel cell product developer Ballard Power Systems Inc projects shipping about 1,000 units for materials handling applications this year, compared with 508 during 2008 and 204 in 2007.

Ballard anticipates other sales growth in fuel cell product markets for backup power units and residential cogeneration systems.

For the motive-power niche, Ballard's FCvelocity-brand 9SSL model for materials handling equipment costs about USD500 to USD700 per kilowatt (kW), operates with a power level of 4.4 kW to 19.3 kW and has an operational life of 10,000 hours, the company says.

Burnaby-based Ballard is developing advanced FCvelocity motive-power systems and plans, with its 9SSL V4 model, to have a 50% reduction in catalyst loading, new membrane-electrode-assembly technology and improved power density with a lower cell count.

In the future, the in-development FCvelocity 1200 should have a purpose-built unit cell for materials handling, increased power density and a cost-reduction system enabler.

During 2008, Ballard received orders for fuel-cell products for forklifts to service the dry goods side of a Wal-Mart Stores Inc warehouse in Ohio and, separately, for units for 219 Yale forklifts to service Central Grocers Inc greenfield warehouse sites in Joliet, Illinois (Forkliftaction.com News #391).

In April, Ballard and Raymond Corp, of Greene, New York, agreed to work towards jointly developing a prototype of Ballard next-generation fuel-cell technology to power Raymond trucks (Forkliftaction.com News #358).

Ballard reported 2008 sales of USD59.6 million, compared with USD65.5 million the previous year. Ballard projects an increase of 15% to 30% in sales during 2009.