A little over two years ago I spoke with a friend about his experience with H2 forklift refueling and
I posted about what he told me. I concluded with the following:
RegGuheert on February 20 said:
It looks like there are real applications in the forklift industry (inside a freezer, for instance), but it seems to me that there is lots of room in that market for Li-ion batteries that has not yet been addressed.
It seems I was not alone in that assessment. A CA company named
Flux Power was founded to address the space in the forklift market which is not well addressed by lead-acid batteries. It seems
they are experiencing triple-digit YOY growth on their first-generation Li-ion battery offerings.
It will be interesting to see if their success continues. Given that both H2 and Li-ion each only have a small portion of the forklift market and both offer benefits over lead-acid batteries, I expect both technologies will continue to grow rapidly in this space for the next few years. But they will soon be competing for the same customers. I suspect each will have clear benefits over the other depending on the customer situation. Here are a few thoughts about what will weigh heavily in customers' decisions:
Benefits of H2 fuel cells in forklifts:
- Faster refueling: 3 minutes per shift versus 1 hour per shift (could be significant for two- or three-shift operations)
- No loss of power as fuel is used like is experienced with batteries (Li-ion is better than lead-acid, but H2 wins here)
- Available in 48V version for forklifts (both are available in 36V versions)
Benefits of Li-ion batteries in forklifts:
- Cheaper refueling infrastructure (In fact, these batteries are compatible with existing lead-acid recharging equipment)
- Cheaper fuel: In most cases, MUCH cheaper fuel.
- Likely higher reliability (H2 systems are simply much more complicated)
- Available in 24V versions for hand trucks (perhaps Plug Power has a similar offering?)
- Wider operating temperature range (both on the low and high ends, though I suspect you would not want to operation Li-ion batteries on the high end of the range given)
Specifications which are comparable:
- Runtime with a single refueling (using 75% DOD for the Li-ion batteries and 40% efficiency on the fuel cells gives about the same electrical energy output for similar-size products)
Characteristics which I cannot compare:
- Unit cost (though only the Li-ion battery says they provide lower lifetime costs than lead-acid batteries)
- Unit lifetime (Li-ion batteries are specified for 2000 cycles at 80% DOD and 3000 cycles at 70% DOD)
For reference, here are datasheets for the products which I am comparing:
- Datasheet for the Plug Power GenDrive 1000
- Datasheet for the Flux Power X-Series Li-ion Forklift Batteries