Page 22 - Gi flipbook - November 2018

Torque of the town

One area where FCEVs have done
quite well is that of indoor forklift
trucks. In some areas of the world it is
forbidden to use diesel forklifts
indoors, as this is a health hazard.
Some firms have therefore
retrofitted their fleets with H
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systems. Company Plug Power alone
shipped around 3,000 fuel cell (FC)
forklifts in 2014, capturing 85 per cent
of the market share at the time, and
other companies are catching up in
the material handling equipment
(MHE) segment.
Toyota is converting its forklift fleet
to hydrogen at its Motomachi plant in
Japan, and IDTechEx’s outlook for this
market is quite positive, thanks to a
low payback time and encouraging
legislation around the globe.
The trucking industry is also longing
for CO -free alternatives to diesel
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engines, which are prone to failure and
cost their drivers thousands of dollars
each year in fuel.
However, Li-ion batteries are not
always the best solution for that, as
charging a 1MWh battery pack can
take several hours and the existing
charging infrastructure may not be
equipped to provide hundreds of companies willing to embrace failed to address. Charging an electric
kilowatts at the same time to a hydrogen solutions outside of the vessel for several hours while on the
convoy of electric lorries. passenger car market. water can be a concern for some
For this reason, companies like Finally, hydrogen might take it to operators. Hydrogen, on the other hand,
Nikola have already collected over the skies too, thanks to joint efforts in can offer a quick, drop-in solution.
7,000 pre-orders for their fuel the drone industry in switching away Some companies are even
cell-powered trucks, which are leased from bulky and slow-to-charge considering equipping electric yachts
(and not sold) to end users. The batteries, in favour of small hydrogen with on-board water hydrolysis
company plans to set up its own H tanks that can be refilled in seconds stations, which would in theory give
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management infrastructure across and enable longer range for such vessels unlimited range. Of
North America, thus offering a new commercial and military drones. course the road to get there is far
kind of mobility as a service (MaaS), Currently, battery-powered drones from trivial and still long, but this
and setting up a new revenue model have to be equipped with up to five gives an idea about the potential
for the truck industry. spare batteries that need to be behind hydrogen.
Truck drivers often complain about replaced during the day to enable While it is hard to envision many
the wafer-thin margins on which the eight-hour work routines. This creates success stories for H -powered cars,
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industry operates, with the fluctuating problems in terms of weight that has the real breakthrough for this
cost of fuel being the major source of to be carried around, particularly in technology may come from other
concern. By offering a fixed price on industrial sites, as well as the need to mobility industries that are often
the truck lease (expressed in $/mi, for set up charging infrastructures that overlooked. IDTechEx monitors around
instance), truck drivers and fleet can charge tens, if not hundreds, of 50 different electric vehicle categories,
managers would be able to hedge batteries overnight every day. and has recently published a technical
their investment and ensure stable Autonomous drones, on the other report on fuel cell electric vehicles that
profits for all early adopters. hand, could be equipped with lightweight goes more in detail into the vehicle
As Nikola prepares to cover the H tanks that only take minutes to categories mentioned above. ■
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entirety of US soil with proprietary refill. The self-flying EVs could go back
hydrogen-refuelling stations, Tesla to the refilling point and resume ■ Since 1999, IDTechEx has provided
quietly abandons its initially ambitious operation in no time, perhaps even by independent market research,
plans to sell thousands of battery- using H that comes from electrolysis business intelligence and events on
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powered semis, due to unpredicted stations or chemical processes. emerging technology to clients in
delays in the delivery of its sedans. Similar efforts are also underway in over 80 countries. Download some
IDTechEx believes this can be a the marine vehicle sector, where H can free sample pages of their latest
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golden opportunity for all those meet shortcomings that batteries have report at www.idtechex.com/fuel

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