Raymond delivers progress report on fuel cell research

Lift truck maker says fuel cell-powered trucks perform well and are easy to refuel.

By Corinne Kator, Associate Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 12/20/2007

Lift truck maker Raymond Corp. held a press conference today to provide an update on the fuel cell research program the company began earlier this year with funding from the New York Energy Research Development Authority (NYSERDA).

The research program involves three steps:

1. Establishing an in-door hydrogen fueling system at Raymond’s factory in Greene, N.Y.
2. Operating four hydrogen fuel cell-powered lift trucks at the factory (running each truck for 24 months)
3. Monitoring the performance and hydrogen consumption of the trucks as they do “real work” at the facility

Raymond is using its own reach trucks and pallet trucks for the research as well as fuel cells from Hydrogenics and Plug Power and a hydrogen compressing, storage and dispensing system from Nuvera Fuel Cells.

Current findings

At this early stage in the research program, Raymond was able to share the following assessments:

• The braking distance and maximum travel and lift speeds of the fuel cell-powered trucks are equivalent to that of battery-powered lift trucks.
• Refueling a fuel cell-powered truck takes significantly less time than removing and replacing a battery (about 2 minutes, compared to about 20 minutes).
• Drivers are pleased with the consistent performance of the fuel cell-powered trucks.

Future research

Raymond executives say they will continue to share research results as they become available. The company plans to continue monitoring and analyzing

• Hydrogen consumption and frequency of refueling
• Operation of the hydrogen infrastructure
• Reliability, maintenance and repairability of the fuel cell systems
• Voltage delivered and how it compares with the specifications for the lift trucks’ electrical components