Doosan Bobcat Ships Korea's First 'Hydrogen Forklift'

Doosan Bobcat is commercializing hydrogen forklifts for the first time in Korea.

Doosan Bobcat announced on the 31st that it held the 'Hydrogen Forklift No. 1 Shipment Ceremony' on the 30th at its forklift factory in Incheon. Attendees included Park Hyung-won, President of Doosan Bobcat Korea (Head of Asia, Latin America, and Oceania regions), Lee Chang-heum, Director of the Climate and Carbon Policy Office at the Ministry of Environment, Kim Hee-soo, Director of the Construction Machinery Parts Research Institute, and Geum Young-beom, Executive Director at Hyundai Mobis, who jointly developed the first hydrogen forklift.

On the 30th, Park Hyung-won, President of Doosan Bobcat Korea (seventh from the left), and Lee Chang-heum, Director of the Climate and Carbon Policy Office at the Ministry of Environment (sixth from the left), along with officials, celebrated the shipment of the first hydrogen forklift at the Doosan Bobcat forklift factory in Incheon. (Photo by Doosan Bobcat)

The first hydrogen forklift is a 3-ton model equipped with a 20kW output fuel cell. After testing at the Construction Machinery Research Institute, it is scheduled to be delivered to Korea Zinc Onsan Smelter. Although hydrogen forklifts have been unveiled as prototypes before, this is the first time they have been commercially shipped.

Doosan Bobcat is participating in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's pilot project for 'Development of Reliability Verification Technology Based on Demonstration for Commercialization of Hydrogen Forklifts' and is discussing expanding the supply of hydrogen forklifts with various companies and local governments. Once the certification of the 3-ton model equipped with a 10kW output fuel cell is completed this year, the company aims to supply more than 30 hydrogen forklifts in total. In the future, they plan to diversify their products with 2-ton and 5-ton models and expand their portfolio of hydrogen-based products such as skid loaders, which are being developed jointly with Doosan Co., Ltd.

President Park Hyung-won stated, "Doosan Bobcat, which started producing forklifts for the first time in Korea in 1968, has set a new record as the first in the country to commercialize hydrogen forklifts. We will actively participate in expanding the base of hydrogen mobility, which uses hydrogen as a key future energy source toward a low-carbon era."