Yesterday I had talked about the further commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell forklifts. Today I would like to talk about this again with a different slant on the story.
Pike Research has come out with a study predicting that there will be 5,200 hydrogen fueling stations operational by the year 2020. What is interesting to me about this research is that according to Pike fuel cell forklifts will slightly outnumber hydrogen cars or even stationary fuel cells at that time.
According to Pike, “Pike Research’s analysis indicates that forklifts will be the largest driver of hydrogen fuel demand by 2020, representing 36% of the total market by that time. The other large application categories include light duty vehicles, which will consume 33% of total hydrogen, and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) for stationary power, which will represent 27% of the total. Fuel cell buses and scooters will each be a relatively small percentage of total hydrogen demand.”
Now, this research flies in the face of what some others are predicting especially the critics and naysayers. What they are saying is that stationary fuel cells will lead the pack by a large margin in the next 10 years. They say that hydrogen cars will never take off. They also said a few years ago “what is a hydrogen fuel cell forklift anyway?”
If the Pike Research is correct (and predicting the future is tricky business for sure) this would mean that tens of thousands of hydrogen cars, fuel cell forklifts and stationary fuel cells will have been commercialized and sold by 2020.
The naysayers may balk at this research that tiny little atoms of hydrogen will change the world. But, two years ago fuel cell forklifts weren’t even on their radar and today these vehicles have gone into commercialization. If the critics are wrong about the fuel cell forklifts, what else do you think they may be wrong about? 🙂
According to me they both are wrong on some points. we must wait at-least 5 years for it.
I think you are reading the press release the wrong way around. The report looking at fuel cells that used direct hydrogen – only – and modelled the amount of hydrogen that would be required by these applications.
The report *only* therefore looked at cars, buses, forklifts etc and in the stationary sector on fuel cells for UPS as every other commercial application to date uses reformed hydrogen. The results show which applications need the most hydrogen over the forecast period – not the overall fuel cell industry.
As to whether we are correct…. only time will tell :0)