Plug Power CEO Makes Case for Hydrogen As the Future of Energy
Plug Power is the leading user of hydrogen fuel in the world and is leveraging the sustainable form of energy to power industrial electric vehicles such as forklifts for major retailers including Amazon and Walmart. The company’s CEO, Andy Marsh, joined Katherine Ross, Host of Voices of Wall Street, to discuss the role of hydrogen fuel in electric vehicles, expansion into on-road vehicles and air travel, hydrogen vs. electric batteries, and Plug Power’s business model is similar to SpaceX and Tesla’s.
Beyond the Forklift: Material handling is the core of Plug Power’s business, delivering industrial vehicles such as forklifts to customers including Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, Lowe's, and BMW. During the COVID-19 pandemic, “more than 30% of the retail food in the United States actually touched the hydrogen powered forklift truck, which was provided by Plug Power,” according to Marsh. The key for growth for Plug Power will be expanding partnerships with Amazon and Walmart by crossing into new adjacent markets such as delivery vans, long-haul trucking, and air travel, says Marsh.
“We have over 10,000 units of Walmart and talking to them about expanding well beyond material handling, to doing vehicles on road to also providing backup power solutions where diesel generators are used today.”
Hydrogen vs. Battery electric: Marsh admits that electric battery technology is currently a better fit for consumer vehicles than hydrogen fuel cells, while declaring the hydrogen economy more appropriate for businesses.
“I never say one technology is best for everything. I think battery electric vehicles are right for many consumers. Your normal car is driven 4% of the time. Batteries can solve a lot of things needs. Fuel cells are really meant today for asset intense applications.”
Biz Model like Musk: Hydrogen technology has come under fire for its viability in on-road vehicles. The most notable critic has been Elon Musk, who has said success is not possible for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. While Marsh understands the doubters, he emphasizes that there is a lot of support for hydrogen and compares Plug Power’s business model to SpaceX and Tesla.
“If you look at plugs business model, there's a lot about our business model that looks a lot like SpaceX and Tesla. We're vertically integrated, like SpaceX, and we do many, many things ourselves. And we build the fueling stations like Tesla did to make sure that there was ways for customers to charge.
“You go into China, you go into Japan, they're not actually looking at Elon Musk as the answer. They actually look at people like Toyota and Honda as the answer, who are huge promoters of hydrogen vehicles.”
Go Deeper: For more about the advantages of fuel cell power, outlook for the hydrogen economy, and the use-cases of fuel cell power with the most upside in the future, check out the full interview.
