Electric reachstacker for hydrogen pioneer

The onboard hydrogen fuel cell will charge the battery on the fully electric reachstacker, explained Jan Willem van den Brand, director big truck product strategy and solutions at Hyster Europe. The truck architecture incorporates electricity as the main energy source at high voltage to power fully electric motors.

“The technology will help evolve this industry into a low carbon and zero-emission sector,” he said.

“As the first of its kind, we expect the new Hyster ReachStacker will be able to support continuous operations while providing zero emissions and achieving comparable full shift performance to a conventional IC reachstacker.”

H2Ports project

The reachstacker is being developed as part of the European Horizon 2020 programme and H2Ports project, the demonstration site for which is MSC Terminal Valencia (MSCTV) with 260,000 m2 of container stacking space and the ability to handle the biggest container ships. Expected to enter operation in 2021, the reachstacker will undergo thorough testing handling laden shipping containers alongside several existing reachstackers.

“It has the potential to effectively support port applications with a heavy-duty cycle,” Mr van den Brand said. “We plan to maximise uptime, minimise refuelling requirements and help applications to manage power consumption while complying with relevant environmental regulations and incentives.”

Hyster-Yale Group is participating in the H2Ports project alongside the Port Authority of Valencia, the Valenciaport Foundation, the National Hydrogen Center, MSC Terminal Valencia, Grimaldi Group, Atena, Ballard Power Systems Europe and ENAGAS.

The project has received funding from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint undertaking (FCHJU) which also includes the development of an electric yard tractor and the installation of a mobile hydrogen supply station.