Crown Equipment Corporation out of New Bremen, Ohio has made a crowning achievement by building its 500th hydrogen fuel cell forklift for commercial sale. This number is in addition to the forklifts Crown already has in action that have been retrofitted with fuel cells.
According to Crown, “A Crown SR 5000 Series moving-mast reach truck was the 500th truck to be built with a fuel cell. The truck designed for fuel cells, which will be delivered later this year as part of a larger order, maintains similar features and benefits presented by the standard model. The Crown SR 5000 is the latest forklift to be qualified as part of Crown’s fuel cell qualification program for its line of electric forklifts.”
Two of Crown’s larger fuel cell forklift customers happen to be Walmart of Canada and Coca Cola Bottling of North Carolina. I’ve been talking about hydrogen fuel cell forklifts for several years now.
H2 forklifts help combat indoor air pollution unlike those that run on diesel or gasoline engines. Fuel cell forklifts and palette trucks also have longer run times and shorter refueling / recharging times that battery electric models.
Building 500 hydrogen fuel cell forklifts is a wonderful milestone for Crown. But, my guess is that they are just getting started and in a very short time we’ll be celebrating their 5,000th FC forklift built and beyond.