The electric lift truck is usually the best alternative for indoor operations within warehouses and manufacturing environments. This is mainly because of 2 reasons with the first being that they produce zero emissions. This is an extremely essential factor to consider for indoor work places. Out of the Internal Combustion or IC units, only the propane-fueled models could be utilized indoors and these units still require really good ventilation. Units that work on gas and diesel can not be utilized inside under any circumstances.
The main benefit of electric forklifts is fuel expenses. As opposed to internal combustion or IC units, these have less costs per hour. Amongst the main disadvantages to using the electric forklifts is their higher initial cost. Brand new electric lift trucks can range from 20% to 40 percent more compared to IC units that are rated the same.
Electric lift trucks on the other hand, offer numerous advantages like quiet operations, that could be a big plus for indoor settings. In addition, no fuel storage needs mean no room has to be allotted for tanks of flammable and dangerous fuels. Since electric forklifts have less moving components compared to internal combustion units, and they are typically utilized within cleaner settings and indoors, they tend to have a longer overall lifespan.
The electric forklifts biggest disadvantage is the batteries downtime. The large and really heavy, lead acid batteries are somewhat like the ones now found inside automobiles. These batteries are really strong and really big. Usually, batteries provide sufficient power for one regular 8-hour shift, and this means 5 or 6 hours of continuous utilization.
Initially, charging a forklift battery takes around 8 hours. After the charging process is done, an additional 8 hours of cooling time is needed before it can be used. Because of this long process of extra cooling time and slow charging speed, if you require lift trucks for 2 or 3 shift operations, you should buy extra batteries so you can be charging the nest battery always. These additional batteries would add approximately $1000 to $2000 to purchase.
On the market today, there are some new fast charge electric forklifts. These fast charge batteries have revolutionized the industry of electric lift trucks. Their charging could be done in the course of lunch and coffee breaks, allowing them to get back to work much faster.