How much stimulus does it take to power a forklift?

April 20, 2009
Now here's an example of tax dollars at work. Anheuser-Bush, the company that brings you Budweiser, is getting $1.1 million in federal stimulus dollars to put fuel cells in 23 of the electric lift trucks in its Fort Collins, Colo. plant. That comes to ...

Now here's an example of tax dollars at work. Anheuser-Bush, the company that brings you Budweiser, is getting $1.1 million in federal stimulus dollars to put fuel cells in 23 of the electric lift trucks in its Fort Collins, Colo. plant. That comes to about $47,800 per lift truck.

You might well ask how much a brand new ordinary lift truck costs. Well, we put that question to the local dealer here in Cleveland who handles Crown lift trucks. He says that a sit-down forklift truck, complete with battery, will generally run in the high $20,000 to low $30,000 range.

You might also ask on what planet it makes sense to put a $47,800 power source in a $30,000 vehicle regardless of the energy savings. The payback on this investment doesn't look so good.

Here is the orginal article about this "investment" :

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20090416/NEWS01/904160368/1002/CUSTOMERSERVICE02

About the Author

Lee Teschler | Editor

Leland was Editor-in-Chief of Machine Design. He has 34 years of Service and holds a B.S. Engineering from the University of Michigan, a B.S. Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan;, and a MBA from Cleveland State University. Prior to joining Penton, Lee worked as a Communications design engineer for the U.S. Government.

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