Material handling forklifts
Fuel cell drivetrain power components at 2 kW to 30 kW, where rapid refuelling and shift-long runtime justify the stack.
Forklifts are the most mature fuel cell application in materials handling, and for a clear reason: the economics work. Fast refuelling, long shift runtime and indoor-emission limits together justify the investment.
Why non-isolated is common here
Forklift drivetrains are low power, well enclosed and have low consequence of an insulation fault. In that envelope, the overhead of galvanic isolation is hard to justify economically, which is why non-isolated buck-boost converters are the dominant choice in this segment.
Refuelling time as a design constraint
Hydrogen refuelling takes minutes, not hours. The drivetrain has to come back to operating temperature and be ready quickly — which makes warm-up behaviour a specification item, not a convenience.
Vibration
Forklift duty cycles are severe on electronics. Vibration and shock requirements should be stated explicitly in the RFQ; they affect mounting, connector selection and potting, and retrofitting is difficult.
Battery comparison
If the customer is comparing against lithium, the argument is throughput rather than energy density. Frame the specification around minutes of downtime and shift coverage — that is the number the operations manager is measured on.
Design points for this application
- Non-isolated buck-boost is typically the economic choice in this segment
- Warm-up behaviour matters — refuelling is fast, so re-start must be too
- State vibration and shock requirements explicitly in the RFQ
- Frame the commercial case around throughput, not energy density
Typical power band: Typical 2 kW – 30 kW
Discuss your application
Send us the stack rating and bus voltage for your material handling forklifts application and we will propose a configuration.