Plug Power Extends Into e-commerce Space With Walmart

Plug Power PLUG has announced that its hydrogen and fuel cell solutions are expanding into Walmart Inc. WMT e-commerce applications. 

The expansion began in August 2020 and will continue into 2021, according to a release. The Tuesday announcement said that across North America, Walmart has 37 distribution centers that use over 9,500 Plug Power-supported GenDrive fuel cell-powered vehicles.

With about 40,000 units in the field and over 100 fueling stations in North America, Plug Power provides hydrogen solutions across the entire value chain, Plug Power COO Keith Schmidt said in an interview with FreightWaves.

"[This expansion] gives us the opportunity to take our proven hydrogen fueling and powering solutions into Walmart's e-commerce space," Schmidt said. He said the hydrogen solutions being deployed for Walmart e-commerce applications are very similar to Plug Power products already used for Walmart's grocery and retail networks.

Schmidt said the company is seeing its customers grow and strengthen as they work to meet burgeoning consumer demand in e-commerce and home delivery. According to a release, Plug Power's products are helping customers meet increasing demand quickly. It said Walmart's material handling fleet that runs on Plug Power products operates at 99% uptime consistently. Schmidt said that Plug Power sees this as an opportunity to expand within Walmart, one of the company's foundational customers.

"Walmart has been an innovator in fuel cell technology and an early adopter with Plug," partnering with Plug Power to provide hydrogen fuel cell technology in Walmart's electric vehicles for its material handling fleet since 2010, Schmidt said.

What's next for Plug Power?

Plug Power has been growing 30%-40% steadily over the past several years, according to Schmidt. He said the company expects high growth in the future, mentioning its public growth plan for a $1.2 billion revenue stream by the end of 2024.

He said the company started in the logistics material handling industry where hydrogen first made economic sense but is now moving into on-road applications, targeting Class 3-8 commercial vehicles.

"In 2021, you'll see Plug continue to grow in the on-road vehicle segment and continue to expand its market reach in green hydrogen," Schmidt said.

He said the company has put the pieces in place for green hydrogen, acquiring United Hydrogen and Giner ELX in 2020. Plug Power will begin building green hydrogen plants in 2021, according to Schmidt.

Click here for more FreightWaves articles by Alyssa Sporrer.

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