Hydrogen powered electric lift-trucks pass Wal-Mart tests
Twelve rider pallet trucks worked in continuous operation, logging more than 18,500 hours of active work with over 2,100 indoor fueling occurrences by pallet truck operators. The fuel cells were provided by Vancouver based Cellex's CX-P150 fuel cell product. Johnnie Dobbs, Wal-Mart's e.v.p. of logistics and supply chain said that the vehicles were treated just like their other pallet trucks, and operated without a snag. He claims that Wal-Mart now considers the vehicles perfectly viable for their use.According to Cellex, the zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell-powered pallet trucks met and exceeded uptime, fueling, environmental, and safety targets set out for them. Wal-Mart did the testing at two Ohio distribution centers.
I found it interesting to note that the vehicles were refueled indoors over 2,000 times with no incidents. This, in my humble opinion, is a good thing, being that there is much debate over the safety of hydrogen in vehicle use. And, before it gets posted in the comments (although I like to see comments on my posts so I know what readers are thinking), I know that indoor use of lifting trucks is very different than use on our highways and cities. But, still, it's a good sign.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CM 2:34AM (1/06/2007)
Note that although the fuel cell pallet trucks met or exceeded uptime, fueling, environmental, and safety targets, no mention was made of purchase cost or operating costs. Not suprising, as the fuel cells and refuling facilities costs much more than standard lead acid batteries and chargers. Running on hydrogen costs more than electricity - how much more depends on what their source of hydrogen is.
This is basically a publicity stunt for WalMart, sort of a "loss leader" to bring in green customers, and they are not seriously considering replacing all of their electric pallet lifts with more expensive hydrogen fueled models.
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FCG 10:14PM (12/01/2008)
Must say I agree with CM. In my experience, WalMart is given all of this technology to try out -- they require their suppliers of equipment to provide very long "demos" which this no doubt was -- as a professional in the MH business, I have been searching and searching for an ROI on Fuel Cell that is totally transparent with regard to each cost and have yet to find one. As a citizen I admire companies that are willing to put aside financial gain (reasonable ROI) for "greening" up (mind you 51% of companies say they do it for "Brand Improvement"), but as a consultative salesperson, I see how easily warehouse managers and operations leaders can be lead astray by not thoroughly investigating all technologies that fuel vehicles efficiently and with no emissions.