Viessmann has announced it has adopted a hydrogen forklift truck to undertake every day warehouse operations at its Allendorf factory in Germany. Following a trial as part of the state of Hesse’s H2BZ Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Initiative, Viessmann announced plans to produce its own renewable hydrogen on site with a view to fuelling its forklifts in future. A new electrolyser facility will be built next to the company’s two biogas plants which will produce renewable hydrogen from methane in a process powered by excess wind or solar power.

The forklift, by Still, operates using hydrogen cells instead of batteries. The cells convert hydrogen into electricity, meaning that re-fuelling only takes a few minutes as opposed to the hours of charging needed for traditional battery-powered models.

Viessmann is a multiple award-winning leader in sustainability and resource efficiency. The use of fuel cell technology is the latest "Efficiency Plus" initiative at the company’s headquarters in Allendorf, designed to demonstrate that tomorrow's environmental be achieved today with technology that is already on the market.

Fuel cell technology is not only being used by Viessmann for production logistics, but also in a new combined heat and power fuel cell cogeneration system that will be introduced to the domestic heating market in Germany in April next year, with international markets to follow.