Nuvera Fuel Cells

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.

By Danielle Andre

Nuvera and our CEO, Roberto Cordaro, were featured in a special “Energy & Innovation” pull-out section of the Lowell Sun last Sunday. The article, titled “Nuvera Fuel Cells offers ‘clean’ ride-Billerica company has landed pacts to power buses and fork lifts,” was the result of an extensive interview conducted by Sun Correspondent, Andrea Gregory, which included interviews with both myself and Roberto as well as a tour of our facility.

In her article, which spans three pages of the section, Andrea covers the history of our company, an overview of fuel cell technology, Nuvera’s focus on the material handling market and our longer term approach to the automotive industry, our expansion to Billerica, Representative Tsongas’s take on Nuvera, and the Massachusetts fuel cell cluster. No wonder she needed three pages! As the article was in a special pull out section of the Sunday paper, it hasn’t been posted to the Lowell Sun website. I’ve included scans of the article that are legible if you click them to open up to full size.

Thanks to Ales Horky and Kyle Van Zandt for representing Nuvera on film, Roberto for doing the last minute interview and Andrea for writing a great article.

By Gus Block, Marketing Director
Nuvera Fuel Cells

 While Bill Mitchell was living it up at the National Hydrogen Association (NHA) Annual Conference near California’s wine country on Sunday, describing how the hydrogen future is here and now, Jim Rubright of East Penn Manufacturing, Danielle Andre and I were performing yeoman’s (and woman’s) duty at the Edison Electric Institute National Accounts Workshop at Disney World in Orlando. A tough job, but as the saying goes, somebody’s got to do it.

Unlike the NHA meeting, where talk of early markets for hydrogen and fuel cells is a bit like feeding red meat to the lions, few attendees at the Edison Electric event have any idea that fuel cell technology is here today and that it can help their organizations save money, reduce their carbon footprint, and help their distribution and manufacturing operations become more productive. But all of these are opportunities that relate directly to the topics and challenges being discussed and brainstormed here.

Many of the people that come to this well-attended annual workshop program are energy managers for major retailers, such as Nordstrom’s, Wal-Mart, and SuperValu. These are the individuals who are responsible for monitoring energy consumption within their corporations and for finding ways of conserving energy and switching to cleaner sources of power. One of the things I learned from the first full day of the workshop was what jacks-of-all-trade they need to be. They face a huge array of energy-related issues that requires familiarity with complex energy supply and demand issues and trends, regulatory codes and standards, and thousands of technologies and programs that are designed to improve energy efficiency.

On the supply side, a major theme of this conference is that utilities need to learn how to design energy efficiency programs that are customer-friendly. During a session I attended entitled, “What National Accounts Customers Really Want from Utility Incentive Programs,” a major complaint that surfaced from customers was how difficult it is for energy managers at the corporate level to sort out the requirements of local utility programs. Easing paperwork requirements and standardizing on qualifications and rules was a common theme that surfaced.

While a great deal of energy is consumed in the material handling operations of any Big Box retailer, their energy buyers are generalists who may have little direct experience with the forklifts and warehouses within their own companies. Perhaps that is why we got more than a few quizzical looks from passersby in the exhibit hall, where East Penn and Nuvera were showing off our fuel cell-powered lift trucks and hydrogen refueling dispenser – equipment that may be unlike any attendees here have seen before. It was up to Danielle, Jim and I to make the connection between fuel cells and the issues of concern to them. For those energy professionals who were sufficiently intrigued to stop and chat with us, their interest was piqued – for some, you could almost see the wheels beginning to turn inside their heads. We’re hoping to hear from more than a few of them once we all return home from the Magic Kingdom.

Early Mornings, Early Meetings, and Early (Forklift) Markets
By Bill Mitchell, Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Nuvera Fuel Cells

After waking up at 4:00 a.m. on Sunday morning and spending 7 hours on a fully loaded airplane, I was really hoping that my early departure to the NHA Annual Hydrogen Conference in Sacramento would be informative and fruitful, as I was asked to host a series of “table talks” at the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell State Regional Initiatives meeting on Sunday afternoon at the Sacramento Convention Center.

Upon exiting the airport into a beautiful 70 degree day, with no clouds in sight, I was a little worried that everyone might play “hooky” and go visit wine country instead of showing up on a weekend to talk about hydrogen; I was happily mistaken.  The event, co-sponsored by D.O.E, the NHA, and the Clean Energy Group attracted about 100 people. 

Over the course of 3 hours, we discussed the role of early market opportunities as a means to ramp up the commercialization of fuel cells, with one of each of the seven tables giving concurrent talks to interested parties.  Every 20 minutes, the tables would rotate, and we began again.  As someone from the meeting put it, it was like speed dating to find your first fuel cell match.

Some of the topics discussed at the meeting included:

• permitting tools,
• policy,
• fuel cells for prime power/critical loads,
• fuel cells for backup/remote power, and my favorite,
• fuel cells for material handling equipment.

Overall, there was a high degree of interest and appreciation for the forklift opportunity in general, and the Nuvera Total Power Solution in specific. From the interaction with the attendees, many of whom had not been exposed to fuel cells before, one message became clear – fuel cells for forklifts is a real market opportunity that can save you money now.

Not bad for a first day’s work.  You can view a copy of the table talk presentation here.

My only disappointment of the day was that I did not get to see Governor Schwarzenegger to deliver the fuel cell message personally.  However, there are still four more days…