Hydrogen fuel vehicles are on their way to New York, says Plug Power
The company’s new facility will soon be ready to provide the country with H2 fuel cells.
New York state’s Capital Region is about to become a supplier of fuel cells for hydrogen fuel vehicles headed across the rest of the country, said a recent statement from Plug Power.
Plug Power’s NY facility will soon be ready to start providing the country with the units.
Plug Power is the “first real commercial market in the world, here in the Capital Region, for hydrogen fuel cells putting fuel cells in the forklift trucks,” said the company’s CEO, Andy Marsh.
The forklift trucks mentioned by the CEO are powered by H2. That said the technology has potential for a vast spectrum of different types of cars and machinery, including buses, trains, massive mining vehicles, and even race cars that have already been on the tracks in France.
Hydrogen fuel vehicles have been few and far between in the US market until now.
The only state where H2-powered cars are running in any capacity at all is in California. That said, other states have been testing buses, transport trucks and other hydrogen fuel vehicles to learn more about their potential in other arenas. Indeed, when it comes to the passenger car market, battery electrics have been taking off, but this doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for other zero-emission options.
“The more you diversify energy sources, the more opportunities for the consumer to have a choice, then you gonna always see a downstream effect on costs,” said New York Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, who is pushing for more clean energy options in his state.
State officials have said that the more companies there are offering H2 for hydrogen fuel vehicles – green H2 in particular as it is made with renewable energy and is therefore truly a zero-emission fuel source – the more affordable this option will become.
“I think here in New York, you will see vehicles on the road in the next three to five years, if not sooner,” said Marsh. He went on to add that the Capital Region is well suited for Plug Power to thrive due to the colleges within easy reach.
“So you have this good feeder level of engineers that come in,” said Marsh. “You’re also beginning to see an engineering ecosystem developing between the nanotech center and all of the foundries that are being developed. And you start thinking; this is a good place to be for that.”
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