Cover an industry as long as I have and you come to expect hyperbole from marketing people. In fact you’re disappointed if you don't hear bells and whistles when these folks talk to you. So when I spoke with Warren Brower, product marketing manager for Plug Power about the coming of fuel cells in the lift truck market, this statement from him didn’t surprise me:

"Fuel cells are now a viable, commercial alternative to incumbent power technologies. It’s not an emerging technology. It’s here. Adoption will take it to a place where it’s the next iPod."

Don’t get me wrong. I respect Mr. Brower and what his company is doing for lift truck R&D. In fact, it was an article on R&D that appeared in Monday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal that made me recall Brower’s comparison to the iPod. Do you know what the iPod has in common with a fuel-cell-powered lift truck? Development during economic downturns.

The WSJ article noted that big US companies spent nearly as much on research and development in the last quarter of 2008 as they did a year earlier—even as their revenue fell 7.7%. I didn’t see any lift truck manufacturers mentioned in the newspaper’s list of OEMs they studied, but there’s still plenty of buzz being generated about R&D in this sector.

For example, Nissan has been working on a new range of forklifts that use lithium ion batteries provided by Nissan and NEC's joint venture AESC. According to Nissan’s GT 2012 business plan, it will produce an electric car for the U. S. and Japan in 2010. A line of forklifts introduced at last year’s CeMat Intralogistics Show in Hannover, Germany is expected to blaze their trail to markets this year. 

Members of the Industrial Truck Association are excited about the ramifications of such R&D for its industry. Brian Davies, general manager, Americas, for Anderson Power Products, has high hopes for what lithium ion battery technology could mean.

"We’re wondering what will happen when there’s a manufacturing breakthrough with lithium ion batteries," he told me. "That means a cost effective battery adequate to 200 amp hours. That’s been too cost prohibitive for the benefit. However, we’re seeing smaller applications in every country involving large riding lawnmowers that are introducing full electric models with lithium ion products this year. That’s a whole industry segment that used to be gas. That has to mean that in our industry there will be even less internal combustion and even more electric."

Meanwhile, on the fuel cell side of the power spectrum, Linde North America is introducing technology that provides a safe, fast and efficient way to fuel hydrogen vehicles. Its Ionic Compressor has been used extensively in Europe for cars and buses, and is now being introduced to North America for lift trucks. The compressor uses an ionic liquid in direct contact with hydrogen instead of a piston in the pressurizing process.

"The Ionic Compressor is a step change in the area of hydrogen fueling," says Michael McGowan, head of hydrogen solutions for Linde North America. "The technology Linde has developed demonstrates that fueling these vehicles is a commercial reality. And, with increased emphasis on alternative fuels in the Stimulus bill, I think we’ll see commercialization grow at a much faster pace over the next few years."

Pioneering end users are not using the struggling economy as an excuse to stay away from their own R&D either. Central Grocers Inc. is trying out 219 hydrogen fuel cell-powered Yale lift trucks at its new distribution center in Joliet, IL.  These vehicles include pallet trucks, reach trucks, counterbalanced stand ups and counterbalanced forklifts. All are equipped with Plug Power’s GenDrive hydrogen fuel cell power units. Air Products & Chemicals Inc. supplied a liquid hydrogen storage compression system and the indoor fueling dispensers.