It was announced today that the main bottling arm of global soft drinks company, Coca-Cola, has entered into an agreement with alternative fuel development company, Linde, to provide hydrogen fuelled forklift trucks for use in Coca-Cola's North Carolina distribution centre.

The relationship is specifically between Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, and Linde North America, who will be building a hydrogen fuel station and providing the fuel to power around 40 forklifts, which will replace existing propane powered equipment. The fuel cells will be provided by leading fuel cell manufacturer, Plug Power Inc, with the new system expected to come on-line in June.

The changes will allow Coca-Cola to run a more sustainable and efficient operation in North Carolina, which is the main distribution centre for shipments to south-eastern regions of the US. The hydrogen powered trucks will reduce the company's carbon footprint, and the refuelling process will be shortened considerably - taking around three minutes, as opposed to the ten to fifteen minutes required to change a propane tank.

Linde has considerable expertise in the hydrogen fuel business, having built hydrogen fuelling stations in more than 70 locations, across 15 countries. The company has many more installations in the pipeline as the technology has proven particularly popular with organisations with large warehouse and storage facilities, such as retailers and vehicle manufacturing plants.

Corporate Affairs Director at Coca-Cola Consolidated, Alison Patient, explained: "The Linde hydrogen fuel cell solution has allowed us to promote sustainable business practices that will help us achieve greater efficiencies in our materials handling. And due to the high efficiency of the hydrogen fuel cells and the convenient location of the refueling stations in our plant, we expect to improve both our operating cost and our productivity. I think this innovative installation may serve as a model for other Coca-Cola bottlers who want to achieve similar results. Coca-Cola Consolidated is pleased to celebrate Earth Day with the announcement of a new business practice that both adds shareholder value and helps reduce our overall carbon footprint."

VP of Linde's alternative energy division, Mike Beckman, added: "Linde is helping Coca-Cola Consolidated bring its business to a new level of green and creating a win-win situation for consumers and the environment. We're showing that our technology can help improve sustainability, lower emissions and reduce our dependence on foreign fuel. Hydrogen already is one of the most promising alternative fuels. And because of the way it is produced, the hydrogen Linde supplies to Coca-Cola Consolidated is truly green, with only a small carbon footprint incurred during shipping."

Author: Lee Marriott, Analyst