The electric forklift is normally the most ideal alternative for indoor use in warehouses and manufacturing settings. This is mainly because of 2 reasons with the first being that they produce zero emissions. This is an extremely vital factor to consider for indoor work places. Amongst the Internal Combustion or IC units, only the propane-fueled units are able to be used inside and these units still require extremely good ventilation. Units which work on diesel and gas can not be used inside under any circumstances.
The primary benefit of electric lift trucks is fuel costs. As opposed to IC or internal combustion models, these have lower costs per hour. One of the main disadvantages to using the electric forklifts is their higher initial cost. Brand new electric lift trucks can range from 20 percent to 40 percent more compared to IC units that are rated the same.
On the other hand, electric lift trucks offer many advantages like quiet operation. This is a big plus for indoor operations. In addition, no fuel storage requirements mean no room has to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are both flammable and dangerous. As electric forklifts have less moving parts than internal combustion models, and they are normally used within cleaner settings and indoors, they tend to have a longer overall lifespan.
The battery downtime is the biggest downside of an electric lift truck. These units run with heavy, large, lead-acid batteries, like the ones found in your automobile. These batteries are really powerful and really large. Typically, batteries provide an adequate amount of power for one standard 8-hour shift, and this translates into 5 or 6 hours of continuous utilization.
Initially, charging a forklift battery takes approximately 8 hours. After the charging process is completed, an additional 8 hours of cooling time is needed before it can be used. Because of this long method of slow charging speed and extra cooling time, if you require lift trucks for 2 or 3 shift operations, you should buy additional batteries so you can be charging the nest battery always. These extra batteries would add roughly $1000 to $2000 to buy.
On the market nowadays, there are several new fast charge electric lift trucks. These fast charge batteries have revolutionized the business of electric lift trucks. Their charging could be done in the course of lunch and coffee breaks, enabling them to get back to work much sooner.