Forklifts have become an early application success story for fuel cells. Thanks to the favorable economics presented by lower labor costs associated with fuel cell refueling, as well as freeing up warehouse space when battery rooms are eliminated, fuel cells are capturing around 2% of annual sales of Class 1- 3 forklifts in North America. However, fuel cells are not the only advanced technology competing against lead acid batteries. In addition, fuel cells have not yet broken into other markets outside the U.S. and Canada. This presentation will review the main competitors to fuel cells for the forklift market, examine how either PEM and DMFC applications stack up against them in terms of capital cost, performance, operating cost and infrastructure requirements. It will also examine whether fuel cells are likely to be able to capture market share in Europe, Asia Pacific or other regions, when and why.
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