This deployment in France of the first power lift trucks running on hydrogen-powered fuel cells comes on the heels of the recent agreement reached between Plug Power and Axane/Air Liquide Hydrogen Energy. It is part of a larger project aimed at upgrading the Vatry platform.
In all, ten of these hydrogen forklift trucks will equip this platform in just a few weeks.
In addition to the reduction in CO2 emissions – of almost 60% that the Air Liquide Blue Hydrogen offers compared with the European electrical mix base (300g CO2/kwh), supply chain platforms equipped with hydrogen solutions can lead to productivity gains of around 10% compared with conventional battery-driven power lift trucks, thanks to multiple replenishment points and rapid fill-up capability.
Want more information?
The joint enterprise formed by Plug Power (world leader in fuel cell batteries for lift trucks) and Axane (subsidiary of the Air Liquide Group) will ensure the development, production and marketing in Europe of a line of hydrogen fuel cells for power lift trucks. For Europe alone, the development potential of this market is estimated to be around 10 000 units by 2015.
As part of its Blue Hydrogen initiative, which aims to gradually decarbonize the production of hydrogen for energy applications, Air Liquide takes a commitment to produce at least 50% of the hydrogen needed for hydrogen energy applications without releasing any CO2 by 2020, by combining:
- the use of renewable energies, the electrolysis of water and biogas reforming;
- the use of techniques for the capture and storage of the CO2 released during the production of hydrogen out of natural gas.
Air Liquide’s European supply chain platform in Vatry handles some of the supply chain logistics for the products and materials of Air Liquide Welding and Air Liquide France Industrie (ALFI).