Specialist
Former executive at Plug Power Inc.
Agenda
- Penetration rates of fuel cells in key end markets including forklifts, commercial vehicles and power and use case opportunities
- Performance trends in fuel cell applications
- Infrastructure build-out to support market growth and potential bottlenecks
- Key players – such as Cummins (NYSE: CMI) and Plug Power (NYSE: PLUG) – and their differentiation points
- Technological developments and trends in investment
Questions
1.
How have hydrogen fuel cells evolved over the past couple of years in terms of price, size, efficiency and any other important attributes?
2.
Could you walk us through the various end markets where hydrogen fuel cells are being most used, given you discussed the various applications and how they’ve evolved? Most people will know forklifts and commercial vehicles, but could you discuss some of the other opportunities in aerospace and stationary power as well as any other potential use cases?
3.
What do fuel cell penetration rates look like across the markets you mentioned?
4.
You commented on your expected pace of growth, but which end markets do you expect to grow fastest over the next few years in terms of fuel cell adoption? How do you expect penetration rates to evolve in the next 5-10 years?
5.
You touched on 2-3 years for on-road’s early stage adoption of fuel cells, which was the same for material handling. What signposts should our clients and investors be looking for to assure the on-road adoption is following the same path as material handling?
6.
You also said, and it’s obviously pretty well-known, that fuel cells tend to do better with higher-utilisation fleets, you need a larger fleet. You explained a lot of it has to do with efficiency and making fuel cells more economically attractive, but what are the barriers to getting fuel cells to be a more attractive opportunity economically for smaller and mid-sized fleets?
7.
You highlighted adoption has to do with the price of the fuel cells. How should we expect that to evolve? What price decrease in fuel cells would open up the opportunity in mid- and small-sized fleets?
8.
You said the fuel cell entry point for forklifts or material handling was something around 70 lifts. What does that entry point look like across mobility, stationary power and other use cases?
9.
Is there any cap to the growth fuel cells can have? Would any certain part of any fleet need to be electric or lead-acid-powered? Is there any reason why fleets couldn’t be 100% fuel cells?
10.
What is your outlook for fuel cell systems in the stationary market, and what is the trend for augmenting or replacing primary power for industrial or commercial buildings such as data centres?
11.
Where is the opportunity greatest across data centres, microgrids, telecom and utilities for fuel cells to take a meaningful share and hold that share, and why?
12.
What are the key limiting factors deterring fuel cell growth apart from infrastructure, which you mentioned as the largest?
13.
What is the next great use case for hydrogen fuel cells? Where are the largest potential opportunities for fuel cells to enter and take a material share in other markets?
14.
How far away are we from seeing significant adoption rates in heavy vehicles, and what is currently restricting fuel cells from being used in heavy vehicles? What hurdle needs to be jumped over, and when should we expect to see a pick-up in adoption rates?
15.
Could you break down the key players to be watching in the fuel cell industry and highlight any up-and-coming players you’re monitoring?
16.
What differentiates the various players in the fuel cell space? What should our clients be looking for in terms of the technological advantage when evaluating the competitive set here?
17.
Is any player’s technology or anything about the way it’s set up its product more accommodative to one end market vs another, such as Plug Power’s success in forklifts? Is there any specific player that’s more tailored to one market that you’d be more optimistic about?
18.
How have fuel cells performed across end markets? Where have they had greater success than anticipated and where have they maybe fallen short?
19.
What’s missing on the infrastructure side? What do fuel cell makers and users need to be developed that would accelerate adoption rates?
20.
Have there been any notable technological developments as it relates to fuel cells over the last few years? Could you outline some of the technological developments and anything else you think is on the horizon here?
21.
What is the number one thing that outsiders, or investors generally, fail to fully comprehend about hydrogen fuel cells and the role hydrogen plays in a more sustainable future?
22.
What could disrupt the fuel cell adoption rates? As far as disruptive risk, I don’t know if there’s any leapfrog technology that could render fuel cells useless. What would you caution outsiders or investors around when looking at fuel cells?
23.
Do you have any closing comments or anything else you think is important to discuss about fuel cell and its potential adoption? What’s your 12-24-month outlook for fuel cells?
