Ahead of the curve - TCP Group decided to back hydrogen as an energy source in 2015, and now has hundreds of hydrogen-powered hire products in its fleet. The Future of Fuels In part two of our feature, we look at two options that will power hire
equipment in the near future – and in some cases, are already doing so. Dan Jenkins reports…
W
hen it comes to alternative, greener power sources, the hire sector follows
the lead of the automotive industry. In both cases, lithium-ion batteries are becoming more mainstream, whereas hydrogen fuel cells are still in the trial phase. Fuel cells have moved out of the laboratory and into field tests but are still not widely commercially available. However, some experts believe that this is only a matter of time.
In the UK, the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) is deploying material handling equipment in warehouses as part of a wider research piece into the viability of
hydrogen in plant and vehicles up to 44- tonne trucks. The Road to Hydrogen is a UK Government funded project linked to the Teesside Multi-Modal Transport Hydrogen Hub in North-East England. TRL is using telematics to monitor and analyse fuel cell forklifts that are working at a warehouse at Teesside airport.
Toni Velazquez, head of environment and decarbonisation at TRL, said: “Telematics is fundamental to calculating the theoretical energy consumption and therefore what size of fuel cell or battery will be needed. The digitalisation of this space is becoming as exciting and interesting as the decarbonisation.”
One of the advantages for logistics applications is that they currently require a large amount of space to recharge lithium battery-powered machinery. This infrastructure comes at a cost and also eats into space that could be better utilised.
Inside the Delta-Q lab.
“A typical use case would be an Amazon- style operation, where there is a need for a high number of forklift trucks and space is at a premium,” he said. “With hydrogen forklift trucks you can avoid having a room full of transformers and the power supply that goes with it. Hydrogen enables you to release all of that space and you need fewer machines. With battery-electric trucks one is working while another is charging. With hydrogen
fuel cells the truck is constantly available, so your only constraint is the availability of the drivers, not the trucks.
“Obviously you still need space for the hydrogen refuelling station, but if you have a lot of machines it is going to be a much smaller space than the space you need for battery recharging.”
Hundreds of machines
Demonstrating hydrogen’s capabilities for continuous use will clearly make it suitable for hire equipment, which is currently constrained by the limitations of lithium batteries.
However, one UK company has moved beyond trials, and already has hundreds of hydrogen-powered hire products in its fleet. TCP Group (Taylor Construction Plant) developed its own range of mobile lighting towers, including the Ecolite TH200, which it says is the world’s first low-energy, hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered LED lighting tower. It is powered by the BOC Hymera fuel cell and has been part of TCP’s hire fleet since 2015.
The Essex-based company was founded in 1989 and has other depots in Coventry, Leeds, Exeter and Scotland. In the early years, the company developed a reputation as a specialist in remote-control compaction equipment but has now significantly moved
20 Executive Hire News - June 2022
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