Cellex completes forklift field trials

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 72 KB
• Volume: 2004
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1464-2859
• DOI: 10.1016/s1464-2859(04)00061-6

✦ Synopsis

Cellex completes forklift field trials

V ancouver-based Cellex Power

Products has successfully completed its third set of field trial demonstrations at customer locations across the US and Canada. These field trials -conducted during the third quarter of 2003 -represent months of cumulative runtime at selected customers' operations, providing enhanced fuel cell powered forklift performance, including indoor refueling and compliance with all safety codes and regulations.

Cellex's power units are designed to replace industrial lead-acid battery and charger systems in forklifts, which typically last only 4-8 h before the depleted battery needs to be removed and replaced with a freshly charged battery. The use of hydrogen fuel cells addresses this customer problem by running longer, and offering fast refueling.

'Our field trials program has been a tremendous success, as we have validated that industrial lift trucks will be the early adaptors of fuel cells due to a strong customer value proposition,' comments Chris Reid, president and CEO of Cellex. 'We have been focused on lift trucks since our inception in 1998, and the results of the most recent field trials reinforce this.'

Toronto-based Hydrogenics is leading a Canadian consortium to develop, demonstrate and pre-commercialize fuel cell powered forklifts, while Proton Motor in Germany recently unveiled a fuel cell forklift developed in partnership with Linde and Still GmbH [FCB, December]. General Hydrogen in Vancouver is also developing systems to replace forklift batteries with its hydrogen fuel cell Hydricity™ Packs.