Crown Equipment Corporation, one of the world’s leading forklift manufacturers, participated this week in a fuel cell roundtable discussion at the 2010 Fuel Cell Seminar & Exposition in San Antonio, Texas. The annual conference brings together the fuel cell industry’s leading visionaries, experts and participants.

Gary Lunz, general manager of government fleet sales for Crown Equipment Corporation, represented the organization during an “Early Market Success Stories” roundtable session, which discussed progress being made in the most promising markets for fuel cell products. Lunz has been working closely with Crown customers to ensure fuel cell-powered lift trucks are a viable option for their material handling facilities.

“This is a great opportunity for Crown to leverage its leadership position in the strategic deployment of fuel cell-powered forklifts and share proven best practices with companies from around the world,” said Lunz. “The seminar provides a perfect platform to showcase how Crown has taken a research-based approach to ensure our customers have the right truck for their chosen fuel cell, allowing them to meet their performance, safety and environmental sustainability goals.”

Crown has been researching fuel cell forklift applications for more than five years and announced its first significant fuel cell installation more than two years ago. That installation occurred at the Defense Distribution Depot Warner Robins Georgia (DDWG) at Robins Air Force Base, where 20 Crown sit-down counterbalanced lift trucks were upgraded with hydrogen-powered fuel cell power packs. Today, Crown continues to work closely with a variety of fuel cell manufacturers and customers to qualify trucks as new fuel cell pack models are introduced and fuel cell technology continues to advance.

Crown’s participation on the fuel cell panel comes on the heels of several fuel cell-related announcements from the company. Earlier this year, Crown recently introduced a new version of its Crown PC 4500 Series center control pallet truck designed to accommodate fuel cells. The Crown PC 4500 is the industry’s first pallet truck to be designed specifically for fuel cells in an effort to ensure there is no negative impact on safety, efficiency and performance. It is also the first forklift to incorporate controls and gauges for the fuel cell into the dashboard of the truck for operator convenience.

Crown was the first lift truck manufacturer to introduce a fuel cell qualification program for its line of electric forklifts. The program, which approves Crown trucks for use with fuel cell power packs and provides certifications to customers, is the first of its kind within the forklift industry. To date, the company has qualified 20 of its electric forklift models to operate with various fuel cells; offering an unprecedented 29 qualified combinations of fuel cell packs and trucks.

The Fuel Cell Seminar & Exposition (www.fuelcellseminar.com) is one of the largest international conferences of its kind, boasting an extensive Technical Program and Exposition. The conference attracts more than 1,000 attendees annually and offers the largest number of technical papers, the most exhibits and the best coverage of the latest advances and research in the field. Participants include technical leaders, scientists, educators, researchers, developers, inventors, students and manufacturers of fuel cell products.

About Crown Equipment Corporation
Crown is one of the world’s largest lift truck manufacturers. Crown’s award-winning line of lift trucks maintains a reputation for exceptional product design, engineering and manufacturing. From the smallest hand pallet truck to the highest lifting turret truck, Crown seeks to provide users with safe, efficient and ergonomic lift trucks that lower total cost of ownership and maximize uptime. Headquartered in New Bremen, Ohio, Crown manufactures lift trucks that are sold throughout the world.

Crown Equipment acknowledges the contribution of the State of Ohio, Department of Development and the Third Frontier Commission which provided the funding in support of the qualification of lift trucks for battery replacement fuel cell projects.