This paper presents an economic comparison of fuel cell powered forklifts to various types
of battery powered forklifts. The total costs of ownership of each technology is calculated
and compared over their economic lifetimes and at varying workloads to determine the
economic costs or benefits associated with each technology. The study is novel compared
to the previous literature in that all data sources are referenced, it includes a model that is
scalable by facility workload, and it includes the economic costs of hydrogen storage and
charging infrastructure. Results show that fuel cell forklifts are more expensive to
purchase and operate that battery powered forklifts for the types of facilities considered in
this analysis. Fast charge forklifts are shown to be economically advantaged at high
workloads relative to conventional battery-swapping forklifts.