Bridgestone/Firestone Orders Hydrogen Fuel Cell Packs for Plant Material Handling Vehicles
02 November 2005
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| Hydricity packs are based on Ballard fuel cells. Click to enlarge. |
Bridgestone/Firestone Tire has ordered General Hydrogen’s hydrogen-powered Hydricity Packs as replacements for conventional lead-acid batteries in material handling vehicles in its Warren County, Tennessee plant.
Hydricity Packs are complete fuel cell systems that substitute for conventional material-handling battery systems without vehicle modification. General Hydrogen signed a deal earlier this year with Ballard for the fuel cell packs. (Earlier post.)
Compared to the battery systems they replace, the Hydricity packs run three times as long with constant voltage output, and refuel in 3 minutes or less.
General Hydrogen offers two models of Hydricity packs for different types of material handling equipment: Class 1 and Class 2.
| General Hydrogen Hydricity Packs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Class 2 | ||
| Nominal voltage | 36 or 48 VDC | 36 VDC | |
| Power output (continuous) | 12.5 kW | 9.5 kW | |
| Power output (10-second burst) | 48 kW | 36 kW | |
| Energy delivered | 60 kWh | 46 kWh | |
| Hydrogen storage | 3.8 kg | 2.9 kg | |
| Fill time | 3 minutes | 2 minutes | |
General Hydrogen is headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, near Vancouver. It is a private Delaware-registered company started six years ago by Dr. Geoffrey Ballard and Paul Howard, the original founders of Ballard Power Systems.
Thats so cool. Imagine they sold these for housing.
You could go to the local service station to get a refill. The tanks would be light enough to be carried.
A baby verison could be taken camping. Got to have your beer kept cool without disturbing the wildlife.
Posted by: Adrian | 03 November 2005 at 11:17 PM
It's possible to get a fuel cell generator but not cheap.
Posted by: Schwa | 04 November 2005 at 12:22 AM