Angstrom Power wants to show the way with its flashlight, Tekion Solutions plans to spread the word through satellite phones, but General Hydrogen expects to be first to market with something much less exotic -- a forklift.

All are Vancouver-area companies and each has big plans to make fuel cells an integral part of our lives. Although most of us associate fuel cells with automobiles, the reality is that it will be at least 10 years before you pull your smart car into the gas station and fill it up with hydrogen.

The real technological sea change for fuel cells will happen much sooner -- over the next few years -- when a whole new wave of applications begin to hit the market.

Some will be small enough to put in your pocket, but will still be obvious as they power such things as mobile phones and laptop computers.

Others will be innocuous, focussing on specific industries, such as warehouse forklifts and ground support equipment for airports.

And companies from B.C. -- particularly Greater Vancouver -- are among the global leaders in fuel-cell technology innovation. According to Fuel Cells Canada (FCC), there are about 40 B.C. companies employing between 1,600 and 1,800 people involved in developing technology, providing services or producing parts and materials in the fuel-cells sector.

"It's the largest single cluster anywhere in the world," said FCC vice- president Christopher Curtis.

Richmond-based General Hydrogen -- co-founded by fuel-cell godfather Geoffrey Ballard and Paul Howard -- said it is poised to hit the commercial stream with its first sales of a hydrogen fuel-cell power pack that can replace the lead-acid battery in a Class 1 forklift (the operator is seated).

"We'll be making real sales to real customers for real money," said president and CEO Frank Trotter.

Trotter said the company -- which has been rolling out a demonstration program -- will shortly be announcing contracts with a number of customers in the U.S. who require forklifts for high-volume, high-intensity usage. He said General Hydrogen's product allows companies to remove the conventional battery and retro-fit the fuel cell, called a hydricity pack, in the same cavity.

Trotter said fuel-cell technology is now at the stage where a cost-saving case can be made for switching from conventional power.

"That lead-acid battery will typically have to be replaced (or charged) five times a day depending on usage and that's going to involve another forklift and people to do it," he said. "The difference is now we put in one hydricity pack and when it runs down it can be refilled in two to three minutes."

Trotter said other benefits of the technology include: no diminishing of power through the duty cycle, as with lead-acid batteries; no eventual recycling costs; it is non-polluting, giving off just heat and water.

The global market for electric forklifts is about $6 billion US, said Blair Lill, marketing manager for Richmond-based Cellex Power Products -- which is currently conducting trials with Wal-Mart, London Drugs, Sysco Corp., Kroger Co. and Target Corp. for its hydrogen fuel-cell battery replacement for Class 2 forklifts (the operator is standing). Cellex expects to launch commercially by 2007-08.

"The value proposition for customers is very high," said Lill. "For customers, pricing at two to three times what they use today is still very attractive because the benefits are so strong."

Both General Hydrogen and Cellex are using fuel cells from Ballard Power Systems.

Perhaps the most eagerly awaited application is in the micro-fuel- cell area, where personal electronics devices will begin to shed their batteries for the new technology

David McLeod, co-founder of Burnaby-based Tekion Solutions, said the advent of new, power-hungry services for mobile devices -- such as television on cellular phones -- will spur a demand for greater power sources.

"What you have today is not what you're going to have five years from now," said McLeod.

"From everybody we've talked to in the portable electronics world, there's a whole bunch of other stuff that's coming. I've seen membranes that fold out in to TV screens. That's where it's going."

Tekion's patented technology is built around a micro-fuel cell powered by formic acid designed to power portable electronic devices. McLeod said the company plans to launch a commercial application for satellite phones and two-way radios in 2007, with others to follow.

"In the early stage you need the right kind of market opportunity," said McLeod. "Most satellite phone users are off the [electricity] grid,

so they are willing to pay a premium to keep the phone going for eight hours."

McLeod said that starting in niche markets will allow the micro-fuel-cell industry to gain momentum for broader acceptance.

"The race is who's going to be the first in the world to get a substantive purchase order," he said. "If we win, the whole community wins, because what this industry needs is a purchase order."

North Vancouver-based Angstrom Power also has it sights set on offering power to portable electronic devices -- through its hydrogen-fuelled micro-cell. It expects to market devices such as its flashlight by 2008, with some speciality industrial applications sooner.

Angstrom's director of business development Olen Vanderleeden said one of the key challenges is overcoming the advantage that the incumbents -- conventional batteries -- enjoy.

"If you take cellphones as an example, it's a tough model to have someone pay for a cartridge every time they re-fuel," he said. "We can offer multiple solutions, where you can refuel from compressed gas or home-based refillers, but you need the infrastructure. Just like with cars, there's an infrastructure chicken and egg problem."