Nuvera Fuel Cells

Mass High Tech featured an article on the fuel cell industry in Massachusetts which included an interview with Nuvera’s Bill Mitchell. Check out the article here.

The article included a quote from Bill, which stated, “We in the industry are still suffering from a ‘fuel cell hangover’ from a lot of missed promises from a few years ago.” Read the article to get the full picture!

What do you think of the fuel cell industry? Still having a hangover?

Jim Rubright of East Penn Manufacturing sat down with DC Velocity’s James Cooke to talk about fuel cells, expanding their Deka battery product line and running “crisp.” The article, in this month’s DC Velocity, covers the rigorous testing that East Penn is conducting on its ReadyPower unit, co-developed with Nuvera, at their 180,000 square foot distribution center. Cooke’s grasp of the overall picture of the fuel cell material handling market is quite solid, and he gives a good overview of East Penn and Nuvera’s stake in the game. The only slip up? The PowerTap hydrogen refueler used at the Topton Distribution Center dispenses gaseous hydrogen, not liquid as he indicates.

Click on the picture to read the entire article.

CeMAT this year is very well attended despite the higher than normal temperatures in Hannover, Germany. At the last CeMAT event there was only one fuel cell forklift on display. This year there are three fuel cell forklifts on display and one hydrogen powered ICE forklift. Also available for public viewing is a mobile hydrogen refueling truck.

Nuvera Fuel Cells can be found in two of the three locations at CeMAT displaying fuel cells. The PowerFlow PF5 can be found in the Still FMX-20 reach truck.

Hoppecke Batterien developed the hybrid fuel cell power pack used in the Still truck and displayed a cutaway of that technology in the front of the Hoppecke pavilion. Using nickel metal hydride batteries with the PowerFlow, Hoppecke has been able to realize a full two shifts of operation before refueling with hydrogen is required.

There was tremendous interest at all locations showing fuel cells. This crowd at one display is an example of that interest.

When fuel cell or hydrogen ICE trucks needed hydrogen, they just drove around the building to be refueled at this mobile refueler. Refueling there was quick and easy to give each truck a full tank of 350 bar hydrogen.

In addition to our fuel cell forklift proving ground in Topton, Pennsylvania, Nuvera has recently begun testing of its ReadyPower power pack here in our Billerica facility. The focus is on acceleration and braking, with special attention being paid to the regenerative braking system in place on most forklift trucks today. These tests will allow optimization of the hardware that Deka and Nuvera use to absorb the braking energy created (ReadyPower doesn’t have the large battery presence that traditional lead acid batteries do, as it stores its electricity in the form of hydrogen).

Pictured on the forklift is Aaron Harris, our Environmental, Health and Safety Coordinator.

Check out the new ReadyPower and PowerTap specification sheets released last week.

The sheets were created with our partner for the North American material handling market, East Penn Manufacturing. Click on the sheets to download the PDF’s.