Hydrogen Forklifts Are A Rounding Error, Not A Rebuttal - CleanTechnica

The article from CleanTechnica critically examines the common defense of hydrogen fuel cell forklifts as evidence that hydrogen technology is succeeding in transport applications. It argues that citing hydrogen forklifts to rebut broader critiques of hydrogen transport is misleading because it ignores the scale of the market. While a few thousand hydrogen forklifts may sound significant, they represent less than 0.1% of the global forklift market, which sells around 2.2 to 3 million units annually. The vast majority of forklifts are battery electric, with hydrogen forklifts constituting a negligible "rounding error" rather than a meaningful market share. Focusing on the U.S. market, the article notes that although hydrogen forklifts are somewhat more visible, they still account for only a small fraction of total forklift sales—about 50,000 to 60,000 units over more than a decade—compared to hundreds of thousands of battery electric forklifts sold annually. Even prominent users like Amazon, Walmart, and Home Depot