This Is The World’s First Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Powered Container Handler

The Hyster company, which excels in the manufacturing and designing of trucks, has announced an ambitious new goal to pilot the manufacturing of the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell-powered (HFC) container handler. This industry-leading project has begun the manufacturing stage at Fenix Marine Services in the Port of Los Angeles, featuring two 45kW hydrogen fuel cells from Nuvera. It has to be noted that the production of this H1050-1150XD-CH container handler has been supervised by “California Climate Investments” and works with the aim of reducing the carbon footprint on the environment, thereby promoting sustainability.

Coupled with this, the CEO of the company, Steve Trombley, while talking to a press release, said, “We are excited to participate in this pilot and implement another sustainable solution designed to help meet Clean Air Action Plan 2030 objectives. Exploring the use of hydrogen as a zero-emission fuel source is important for the entire transportation industry and is a perfect complement to the other alternative energy research and development projects our parent company, CMA CGM Group, is spearheading to protect the planet and reach net-zero carbon by 2050.”

It should be noted that this advanced hydrogen fuel-based container handler takes 15 minutes to recharge the battery with hydrogen fuel and will function for a period of about eight to ten hours continuously. Moreover, the by-products released as a result of fuel consumption are only water and heat, which shows that the technology has been designed to foster zero emissions. As per the company, “the patented Hyster® energy recovery system for electric container handlers that recovers and stores energy from lowering loads and braking”.

In addition to this, Jan Willem van den Brand, who is the director, of global market development, big trucks, Hyster, said, “Our mission is to provide the innovative technologies our customers need to help meet their goals for emissions reduction and performance. For some operations, lithium-ion power might be the answer, but for others, hydrogen is the right choice.” He further stated, “The answer depends on so many factors like duty cycle, utility grid capacity, and fuel availability. Our customers deserve choices that allow them to build the right solution based on their needs – not shoehorning a single technology into their operation.”

To that end, the company has also made its impact by purchasing lithium-ion powered forklifts to enable the manufacturing of lightweight and smaller electric trucks. Not to mention, the company is also looking forward to the development of electric and hydrogen-powered terminal tractors through a joint partnership. Hence, the breakthrough will definitely leave a mark in the field.