How much stimulus does it take to power a forklift?

Lee_Teschler — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:15:00 GMT

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

from the editor's desk : stimulus plan

How much stimulus does it take to power a forklift?