Steve Medwin: "We are aiming to develop a fuel cell forklift prototype."

Raymond Corp has signed a joint development agreement with Ballard Power Systems to develop a forklift prototype powered by the next generation of Ballard's Mark9 SSL fuel cell product.

James Malvaso, Raymond's president and CEO, says the company is committed to demonstrating the advantages of hydrogen fuel cell technology to the materials handling industry.

"This partnership will further enhance our research into fuel cell-powered forklifts and help uncover additional value related to the merging of these technologies."

John Sheridan, Ballard president and CEO, says the success of the partnership could mean an important first step towards purpose-built fuel cell forklifts.

Steve Medwin, Raymond's manager of advanced research, says Ballard's role in the latest research program entails providing expertise in fuel cell stacks and fuel cell systems, and application knowledge.

Raymond started a three-year research program on hydrogen fuel cells in January 2007, using its Greene manufacturing site as a "living lab" (Forkliftaction.com News #294). The research includes using hydrogen fuel cell-powered Raymond forklifts in real applications including an indoor, fast-fill hydrogen refuelling system. Fuel cell products were provided by Nuvera and Plug Power and Hydrogenics.

Fuel cell solutions have longer runtime and consistent power compared to batteries. They also produce no emissions and remove the need to handle and dispose of lead acid batteries.

"At Raymond, we are beginning to research integrated fuel-cell powered forklifts with the goal of developing a prototype. As we progress in this project over the coming year, we will have a better idea of the commercial timing," Medwin says