Since December 2006, Hamburg Airport has been using two fuel cell powered baggage towing trucks made by the Hamburg industrial truck manufacturer STILL GmbH. Weighing nearly 4.5 tonnes, these trucks in the R 07-25 series are equipped with a fuel cell unit by Hydrogenics. Their output is 15 kW el.

The decisive advantages of powered trucks using fuel cells compared with conventional diesel trucks lie in:

• The avoidance of pollutant emissions and noise – a special advantage in cases of indoor use.
  
• The short refuelling time of 7 minutes maximum and the resulting increase in availability of the vehicles. Battery-powered vehicles need a charging time of around 8 hours.
  
• The PEM fuel cell’s great efficiency of over 50%.
  

An on-site hydrogen refuelling unit designed and built by Linde AG is used to ensure safe and speedy refuelling of the vehicles with hydrogen at the airport. The filling station was officially opened on 31 May 2007 by Mr. Axel Gedaschko, Hamburg’s Senator for Urban Development and the Environment. All filling station components are housed in a container only three metres long. The hydrogen required is supplied in cylinder bundles by Linde Gas. There are permanently 8 bundles with 12 cylinders each (50l/cylinder) on site. Four bundles satisfy the needs of 1,5 weeks. The refuelling process is controlled with the aid of a touch-screen monitor and takes 3 to 4 minutes (seven minutes maximum). A delivery van used at the airport, which is also powered by hydrogen (Fiat Doblò), is also refuelled from the hydrogen filling stations. Two different fuel dispensers were provided for this purpose, since the operating pressure of the baggage towing tractors is around 350 bar and that of the Fiat Doblò is 200 bar. Per fueling 2kg (Fiat Doblò) and respectively 3,1kg (baggage towing trucks) of hydrogen are needed. The research project was made possible with the help of various partners (KION Group with STILL GmbH, Linde Group, Hamburg Department of Urban Development and the Environment (BSU) and Wasserstoffgesellschaft Hamburg e.V.). The aim is intensive testing of the fuel cell system in everyday shift operation on the apron and in the baggage basement. The results will be compared with relevant performance and consumption data for conventional towing trucks and evaluated. In the long term, Hamburg Airport plans to modernise its baggage handling vehicles and reduce pollutant emissions arising from exhaust gases.

Starting in summer 2007, fuel cell technology is to be tested in a fork-lift truck in the Port of Hamburg. Following initial experience with a hydrogen-powered fork-lift truck in Munich, an improved truck by STILL is to be used at the Hamburg transhipment operation HHLA-Rhenus. The fuel cell powered fork-lift truck will operate in the HHLA facility at the Overseas Centre in Hamburg’s Hafencity. This project is financially assisted by the City of Hamburg. Both the fork-lift truck project with HHLA and the baggage towing truck project with Hamburg Airport will undergo intensive testing until the end of 2008.

For hySOLUTIONS these two projects are only the start of a future with highly promising applications using materials handling trucks. Discussions are currently in progress with logistics companies in Hamburg with a view to putting into service a first fleet of fuel cell powered materials handling trucks in the Port of Hamburg. hySOLUTIONS is also coordinating the application for assistance for these projects from the “National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology” (NIP).