The joint venture will provide customers with a more efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to battery-powered electric lift trucks. The two companies are currently working in conjunction on GenDrive systems and hydrogen infrastructure deployments at Walmart (Alberta, Canada) and Coca-Cola (San Leandro, CA).
Plug Power will contribute a license to certain intellectual property rights for the initial European project territory and Axane will provide installments of cash over a period of five years.
Ownership in the joint venture will be shared so that Plug Power’s initial shareholding in the joint venture will be 45 percent, with the remainder 55% initial shareholding going to Axane. Plug Power will have the opportunity to leverage its ownership stake to acquire a majority stake in 2016.
The Plug Power GenDrive products will address the European material handling market consisting of 325,000 annual forklift truck sales and an existing installed base of 2,000,000 forklift trucks. Initially the units will be manufactured at Plug Power’s Latham, NY headquarters and distributed through the sales and service channel provided by Axane, with the potential for European-based manufacturing at a later date.
Air Liquide will bring a number of governmental funding relationships to the joint venture, including, the French agency for innovation support, called OSEO, who support the Horizon Hydrogen Energy (H2E) innovation program, coordinated by the Air Liquide Group.
