MENU
SEARCHHydrogen fueling stations using Linde technology have reached more than 1 million fills for the fuel-cell driven forklifts at the BMW Manufacturing Co. LLC plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Photo courtesy of BMW
Hydrogen fueling stations using Linde technology have reached more than 1 million fills for the fuel-cell driven forklifts at the BMW Manufacturing Co. LLC plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Since 2010, the 6 million square foot BMW production facility has powered its entire hydrogen-fuel cell fleet with Linde technology. BMW now operates more than 350 forklifts to service the plant's production and logistics functions.
The lead acid batteries that formerly powered BMW's lifts and trucks were replaced with GenDrive hydrogen fuel cell power solutions from Latham, N.Y.-based Plug Power Inc., Linde's associate in the BMW installation.
BMW is able to boost productivity in two ways: reducing fueling time and increasing equipment performance. Gen-Drive-powered trucks with hydrogen using Linde's equipment takes an operator less than three minutes, compared with 15-20 minutes to change out a battery. Also, power levels and performance from fuel cells do not degrade over time, as they do with lead-acid batteries. BMW also is able to reduce its total electricity demand, since no battery recharging is required, and eliminate the environmental disposal costs for lead-acid batteries.
Detroit-based company says it has begun early development of a system to convert internal combustion Ram 5500 chassis-cab trucks to electric power.
Read More →
Fleet managers are done with the debate—and focused on execution. Learn how to build a practical electrification strategy that aligns infrastructure, operations, and financing while keeping costs controlled and deployment scalable with support from Blink Charging. Discover how smart planning today positions fleets for long-term performance and ROI.
Read More →
New industry group data revealed that light-duty electric vehicle sales are hitting record market share and volumes, while commercial EV volume dipped. What’s driving the fluctuations?
Read More →
For fleet managers, fuel is one of the biggest line items in the budget — and it's one hybrids can shrink without changing how your people work. Download the eBook to see the numbers, understand the technology, and get a step-by-step guide to making the switch.
Read More →
The biggest challenge lies in balancing additional equipment and accessories with EV battery capacity and range.
Read More →
With the expiration of federal incentives, EV success now hinges less on government policy and more on discounts, battery tech progress, increased range, and broader infrastructure.
Read More →
Fleet operators shared their challenges during an annual conference that embraced the latest advances across all aspects of running private- and public-sector vehicles.
Read More →
EVgo, Pilot, ChargePoint and IONNA named; goal is 35k GM-invested DC stalls by 2030, with customer-experience upgrades at sites.
Read More →
EV buyers took advantage of the final federal tax credit days, while average prices edged up for new EVs and continued to decline for used models.
Read More →
But most OEMs record low-volume sales, which means EV profitability remains a distant dream for nearly every automaker.
Read More →
