(Photo credit: Air Liquide Singapore)
• 02 November 2022 •
Preliminary results show promising reduction in carbon emission and diesel fuel cost
Spectronik is pleased to announce our collaboration with Air Liquide to jointly conduct a pilot trial of zero-emission electric forklift – powered by Spectronik’s Hydrogen fuel cell, at Air Liquide’s Integrated Packaged Gases (IPAG) Hub facility in Singapore. On 11th October 2022, guests from Enterprise Singapore and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Association of Singapore visited IPAG Hub to witness the Hydrogen fuel cell forklift in action.
Unlike battery forklifts, the Hydrogen fuel cell forklift never needs to stop for battery charging. Instead, Hydrogen gas is stored in a cylinder on board the forklift. A fuel cell then converts the Hydrogen gas into electricity that powers the electric forklift, with clean water as the only by-product. The gas cylinder is refilled when Hydrogen gas is depleted – a process which takes less than 5 minutes. Air Liquide has a ready supply of Hydrogen gas at IPAG Hub and is fully equipped to perform Hydrogen refueling.
The objective of the pilot trial is to study the technical, operational, and economical feasibility of the Hydrogen fuel cell forklift to replace diesel forklifts. The Hydrogen fuel cell forklift can carry up to 3-tonnes payload and is used for daily operations at IPAG Hub, such as loading/unloading and transporting pallets of industrial gas tanks. The trial has been ongoing since August 2022 and is expected to run for 12 months. Preliminary results show promising reduction in both carbon footprint and fuel cost.
Zarli Maung Maung, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Spectronik:
“Air Liquide is the perfect partner for this pilot trial due to their strong expertise in handling, storing, and using Hydrogen gas. Spectronik also gets to test our fuel cell solution in an actual operational environment. The lessons learned in the trial will help us increase the technology readiness level and maturity of our fuel cell product. We look forward to a long-term collaboration with Air Liquide”.