Hyster develops hydrogen-powered reach stacker
Hyster is developing the hydrogen-powered reach stacker to work at the intermodal terminals. The innovative vehicle will be tested at MSC Terminal Valencia within the H2Ports project financed by the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking.
Hydrogen is gaining popularity among train and truck manufacturers. Now it’s the turn for the company dedicated to producing materials-handling equipment including reach stackers for intermodal terminals. Hyster, the US-based worldwide manufacturer, is developing a prototype of the hydrogen-powered vehicle. It will be operated at MSC Terminal Valencia during the two-year-long tests.
Refuelling hydrogen
To work at the Spanish maritime terminal, the innovative reach stacker will have four hydrogen tanks, which are enough to move containers almost entire day. The mobile Hydrogen Refuelling Station developed by CNH2 will be used to fill the tanks of the vehicle. Compared to batteries, hydrogen allows quicker refuelling, as 10-15 minutes. Another benefit of hydrogen is its environmental friendliness: when this fuel is used, it produces no emissions other than heat and water.
H2Ports
The hydrogen reach stacker is being developed by Hyster within the H2Ports project for the Port Authority of Valencia. This initiative is financed by the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) programme. 4 million euros were allocated for this purpose. Besides Hyster and the Port Authority of Valencia, several other companies participate in the H2Ports project such as Fundación Valenciaport, Centro Nacional del Hidrógeno, as well as the private companies MSC Terminal Valencia, Grupo Grimaldi, Atena Distretto Alta Tecnologia Energia Ambiente, Ballard Power Systems Europe and Enagás. Thanks to this initiative, the Port of Valencia will be the first port in Europe to incorporate hydrogen technologies to reduce the environmental impact of its operations.