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Small Forklift Fleet Uses On-site Reformer to Supply Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
Green Technology Featured Articles
July 18, 2013

Small Forklift Fleet Uses On-site Reformer to Supply Hydrogen and Fuel Cells

By Cheryl Kaften
TMCnet Contributor

To date, most of the hydrogen produced industrially has not been used to generate energy; the bulk serves as a chemical feedstock for the petrochemical, food, electronics and metallurgical processing industries. However, hydrogen’s share of the energy market is increasing with the implementation of fuel cell systems and the growing demand for zero-emission fuels.


Fuel cells are different from conventional batteries because they require a constant source of fuel and oxygen/air to sustain their chemical reactions— however, they can produce electricity continually for as long as these resources are supplied. They come in a variety of sizes and usually are used for large-scale power generation.

Now, Latham, New York-based Plug Power (News - Alert) Inc., a provider of clean, reliable energy solutions, has achieved success with hydrogen production systems—called on-site reformers—that work on a smaller scale, enabling the company’s GenDrive fuel cells to provide cost-effective power for modestly-sized forklift truck fleets (as few as 20 trucks). On-site reformer systems convert natural gas to hydrogen on the customer premises, which decreases fuel infrastructure costs and makes hydrogen power more feasible.

To power their fuel cell vehicles, customers have two hydrogen supply options:

  • Install a hydrogen storage system that dispenses delivered compressed hydrogen, or
  • Install a reformer infrastructure on-site that generates, compresses, stores and dispenses hydrogen.

Plug Power initially focused GenDrive sales efforts on large distribution centers where replacing lead-acid batteries with cleaner, more efficient fuel cells provided a green, cost-effective solution for fleets averaging 100 forklift trucks.

With cost-efficient on-site hydrogen production solutions now proving to be an excellent option, Plug Power is able to broaden its reach and supply fuel cell solutions to customer sites with fleet sizes as small as 20 forklift trucks. This capability could lead to a 40-percent expansion in the company’s serviceable addressable market, and expand Plug Power’s North America market size by more than $1 billion.

Already, GenDrive units are being ordered by customers that will be generating hydrogen on-site. One such Plug Power customer, Ace Hardware, will deploy 65 GenDrive units to power its lift truck fleet at its newest retail support center in Wilmer, Texas, when it is completed in 2014. Ace Hardware will be using an on-site hydrogen generation and refueling solution provided by Billerica, Massachusetts-based Nuvera Fuel Cells. On-site generation of hydrogen will allow Ace to eliminate most of the upfront costs of bringing hydrogen to the site.

“Low-cost hydrogen infrastructure is crucial to expansion for Plug Power,” said Andy Marsh, CEO at Plug Power. “The ability to satisfy smaller fleets within our already proven market of material handling, will allow Plug Power to successfully work with smaller customer sites where hydrogen now makes sense for their business.”

Photo courtesy of Nuvera Fuel Cells




Edited by Rachel Ramsey


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