Wal-Mart tests hydrogen fuel cells in lift trucks

Fuel cells run two shifts a day with brief stops for indoor fueling

-- Modern Materials Handling, 10/3/2006

Mega-retailer Wal-Mart is nearing completion of a four-month trial of hydrogen-fueled lift trucks in two of its U.S. distribution centers. Cellex Power Products supplied 14 fuel cell power units for the trial. According to Cellex, the units are successfully running two shifts a day and being fueled indoors by lift truck operators.

“One of Wal-Mart’s environmental goals is to increase the efficiency of our existing facilities in a number of areas,” says Johnnie Dobbs, Wal-Mart’s executive vice president of logistics and supply chain. “Embracing new technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells will play an important role in defining how successful we are.”

The Cellex CX-P150 power units used at Wal-Mart increase productivity by allowing trucks to stay on the floor longer and help the environment by eliminating handling of lead and acid required with industrial batteries, says Cellex’s vice president of marketing Tom Hoying.

The fuel cell project is set to receive a $1 million grant from the state of Ohio’s Third Frontier Fuel Cell Initiative.