Fuel-cell powered fleet

The past few years have seen growing investment in the development of fuel-cell technology, particularly in the USA. Crown has been researching fuel-cell forklift applications for more than seven years and in 2008 set up its own dedicated fuel-cell research and test centre.

Crown says it initiated the industry's first fuel-cell qualification programme and has now qualified more than 20 lift truck models to operate with fuel-cells in the US market, many of which are already in use at customer locations.

Now a new fleet of 35 Crown FC 4500 Series counterbalanced lift trucks, fitted with fuel cells, has been delivered to Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, further demonstrating the lift-truck manufacturer's strength in the strategic deployment of fuel cellpowered forklifts.

Converting a lift truck fleet to fuel-cell technology does require additional investment in warehouse infrastructure, but this one-off capital investment can usually be offset against the benefits of the new technology, such as a possible increase in productivity.