A fuel cell tax credit incentive could boost demand for the forklifts that the Raymond Corporation makes.

Congressman Michael Arcuri was at Raymond today talking about proposed legislation to give added tax credits for companies who buy forklifts with fuel cells instead of batteries.

Michael Arcuri says, "One of the things that we're talking about today is the fuel cell credit that they get for the hydrogen fuel cell that they put in their forklift. The thing is, the tax credit as it exists now only is for the battery itself so there's a tax credit, but it's a very small tax credit. However, if you have a fuel cell in your car, you get a tax credit for the entire car. We think that makes sense for forklifts as well. And, obviously that will make for the people who are buying it much more advantageous."

Chuck Pascarelli, of Raymond, says, "When you look at a fuel cell, it does improve their productivity. Because, what happens is in a typical application where a truck is being used 24 hours a day, seven days a week that truck requires three batteries, one that's charging, one that's cooling and one that's in the truck. And, with a fuel cell, it's like gasoline in a car. You fill the tank and it takes about two or three minutes to fill the tank and it goes and goes and there's no degradation of performance."

You fill the fuel cell with hydrogen and the only byproduct from it is water.  Congress will likely be looking closer at the issue next week.