Thursday, March 11, 2010

RAYMOND NAMED INDEPENDENT DISTRIBUTOR OF PLUG POWER’S GENDRIVE™ HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS


GREENE, N.Y. — The Raymond Corporation is now an independent distributor for the sale, rental and lease of Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) GenDrive™ fuel cell units in North America. As an Authorized Service Provider, Raymond also will provide warranty and maintenance service on GenDrive products through its North American Sales and Service Center network. In addition, Raymond is a GenDrive Authorized Distributor of service parts.
“Plug Power is a fuel cell market leader, and this partnership enables Raymond to offer cutting-edge lift truck power solutions to the material handling industry,” says Chuck Pascarelli, executive vice president of sales and marketing for The Raymond Corporation. “Through this agreement, Raymond and its Sales and Service Center network can aid companies in the deployment of fuel cell-powered lift trucks and provide ongoing service and support throughout the life of the trucks.”
“Raymond’s leading AC technology, coupled with Plug Power’s proven GenDrive solutions will bring superior power and performance to the electric lift truck market,” says Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power. “By investigating and commercializing new technologies to power its durable, reliable lift trucks, Raymond is helping to offer companies a seamless solution for installing fuel cell-powered lift trucks.”
GenDrive fuel cell power units have been tested and approved for use in Raymond® Model 8400 pallet trucks, Model 4100 and 4200 stand-up counterbalanced trucks, and various Model 7400 Reach-Fork® trucks. Raymond is evaluating additional Raymond lift truck models to assess their compatibility with hydrogen fuel cells.
Based on recent demonstrations by lift truck and fuel cell manufacturers, there appears to be significant potential to improve warehouse productivity when fuel cells are used to power lift trucks in high-throughput warehouse applications. Hydrogen fuel cells can offer higher productivity in electric lift trucks because they can be rapidly refueled by operators, eliminating the need to change, store and maintain batteries. Plus, fuel cells produce constant voltage, which means there is no battery drop toward the end of a shift, and the vehicle experiences no performance degradation.
For more information about Raymond fuel cell-powered lift trucks or Plug Power’s GenDrive hydrogen fuel cell units, or to locate a Raymond Sales and Service Center, visit www.raymondcorp.com or call (800) 235-7200.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Raymond PowerSteer Option


Raymond Corp. offers a new PowerSteer option on its 8000 series rider pallet trucks to reduce the effort required to maneuver the truck and increase operator comfort.

The PowerSteer feature is available on the model 8400 end rider, model 8500 center rider and model 8600 tugger trucks. The PowerSteer option provides consistent, responsive steering and automatically decreases power-steering assistance levels as the speed of the pallet truck increases. The ACR system reduces maintenance, delivers more run time per battery charge and provides enhanced response to operator commands, according to Raymond.
Raymond’s center rider and tugger trucks with the PowerSteer option also feature adjustable-height handles to accommodate a range of operator heights and preferred operating positions. Center rider and tugger trucks with the PowerSteer option automatically slow down when the truck turns around corners.

http://raymondhandlingsolutions.com/