Hamburg March 11 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- At CeMAT 2008, the concept study of an ECE with a methanol fuel cell will be presented with many further product innovations at the Jungheinrich stand. Jungheinrich supports the further development of a research project on methanol fuel cells. However, there are a few obstacles to overcome to bring the concept into commercial use.

A consortium between the research centre Julich (administration), Jungheinrich AG, an industrial truck producer, and other companies are analysing the economical and technical effects of the methanol fuel cell as the driving force for industrial trucks very intensively.

In the future the operator will only need a few minutes to fill up his truck with a methanol fuel cell in series, instead of changing the battery. Additionally, this will last more than twice as long as the capacity of a battery. The infrastructure for the filling up of methanol could be realized quickly and cost-effectively.

The development of the introduced fuel cell concept is in good progress. The prototypes are in dynamical use with real working conditions. A main challenge is the increase of reliability before producing the fuel cell in series. Before every economical and technical development aim is achieved, it will not be introduced to the market until 2012.