Congressman Paul Tonko has introduced a new bill that would add hydrogen fuel cell-powered industrial vehicles to an existing tax credit program, which will lead to new investment in technology and possibly create thousands of new jobs, including some right here in the Capital Region. H.R. 5174, The Fuel Cell Industrial Vehicles Jobs Act of 2010, would make material handling fuel cell vehicles, such as forklifts, eligible for the existing Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit for Qualified Fuel Cell Motor Vehicles.

“Fuel cell technology has gained widespread traction in the material handling industry because of the efficiency and productivity gains that are realized,” said Congressman Paul Tonko. “This legislation creates an improved and robust tax credit that will provide the incentive for large scale conversions to this clean technology at manufacturing and distribution centers across the country, which will ultimately lead to new jobs.”

Currently, there is a tax credit on the books that is applied to fuel cell-powered material handling vehicles, however the credit only applies to the fuel cell itself. Under the legislation submitted by Congressman Tonko, the Alternative Motor Vehicle Tax Credit would be modified to include vehicles that carry or tow loads in commercial or industrial settings, and would provide a calculation based on the weight of the entire vehicle. The result would be a larger credit which will serve as an incentive for companies to build, buy, and operate fuel cell powered forklifts and other material handling vehicles. This would lead to job creation in design, manufacturing, and sales – clean energy jobs produced domestically – and potentially lead to exports of this technology overseas.

Companies like Plug Power of Latham would benefit if this bill were to become law. Plug Power is the leader in providing commercially viable fuel cell technology for the motive and stationary power markets.

“We applaud Congressman Tonko for introducing this forward-thinking and effective legislation,” said Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power. “This bill can create thousands of green jobs in his district, in New York State and throughout the country.”

The North American market for material handling vehicles is currently about $4 billion annually. Fuel cell powered material handling vehicles have been shown to dramatically increase productivity in many applications in comparison to electric lift trucks because they can be refueled quickly by operators. They also increase efficiency by eliminating the need to charge, store and maintain batteries. Fuel cells also produce constant voltage, so there’s no decrease in performance as there would be in an electric battery.

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