At the heating technology manufacturer Viessmann in Allendorf on Tuesday 26th November 2013, Andreas Koch, Manager of the Climate Protection and Energy Production Department of the Environment Ministry of the State of Hesse, was personally convinced by the sustainability and efficiency of the RX 60-25 fuel cell forklift made by STILL, the world’s leading supplier of customized intralogistics solutions.

The application is part of a demonstration project by the State of Hesse, initiated by the Hesse Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Demonstration Project e.V. and commissioned by the project manager Hessen Agentur on behalf of the Environment and Energy Ministry of the State of Hesse. The aim of the demonstration deployment is to make the environmentally friendly fuel cell forklift more widely known in the logistics industry, thus removing barriers to its entry into the market.

The compact fuel cell unit generates electrical drive energy directly on board the vehicle by reacting hydrogen with the oxygen of the air. Pure water vapor is emitted instead of CO2. So this clean drive system protects the environment and climate and improves the vehicle’s energy efficiency, thus making a big contribution to the success of the Energy Turnaround. Refueling with hydrogen takes only a few minutes, which ensures short downtimes, an important factor when considering the economic aspects of logistics.

Viessmann is the first company in Hesse to use a fuel cell forklift. At the same time the company relies on a hydrogen drive not only for its intralogistics. Viessmann will launch Europe’s first heating plant with a PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell unit for one- and two-family houses onto the market in April 2014. Environmentally friendly heating technology manufactured with climate-neutral intralogistics – against this background the Manager of the Climate Protection and Energy Production Department of the Environment Ministry of the State of Hesse, Andreas Koch, was visibly enthusiastic about STILL’s fuel cell forklift: “I am delighted that we in the State of Hesse, as fuel cell technology pioneers, are pressing ahead with its use in the logistics area.” Michael Süssenguth, Manager of STILL’s Frankfurt branch, is also pleased with the positive response: “The feedback shows us that we are on the right track.