Generally, electric lift trucks are the most ideal option for indoor use in manufacturing and warehousing applications for 2 key reasons: First off they create zero emissions. This is a really essential factor to take into consideration for indoor work places. Amongst the Internal Combustion or IC units, only the propane-fueled units can be utilized indoors and these models still need really good ventilation. Gas and diesel powered models are not able to be utilized inside under any circumstances.
The main advantage of electric forklifts is fuel costs. Compared to IC or internal combustion units, these have less costs per hour. One of the main disadvantages to the electric forklifts is their higher initial cost. New electric lift trucks could range from 20 percent to 40 percent more compared to internal combustion models which are similarly rated.
However, electric lift trucks offer numerous benefits including quiet operation. This is a huge plus for indoor applications. In addition, no requirement for fuel storage mean no room needs to be allotted for tanks of flammable and dangerous fuels. As electric lift trucks have less moving parts as opposed to IC models, and they are normally used inside and in cleaner environments, they tend to have a longer lifespan overall.
The battery downtime is the biggest downside of an electric lift truck. These units run with heavy, large, lead-acid batteries, similar to the ones found in your automobile. These batteries are very large and extremely strong. Usually, batteries offer sufficient power for one regular 8-hour shift, and this translates into 5 or 6 hours of nonstop utilization.
Charging a forklift battery will take about 8 hours. An additional 8 hours of cooling time is required before it could be used after the charging process is done. Because of this long method of additional cooling time and slow charging speed, if you need forklifts for 2 or 3 shift operations, you would need to purchase additional batteries so you could be charging the nest battery always. These additional batteries would add about $1000 to $2000 to purchase.
There are some new fast charge electric forklifts on the market. These specialized batteries have revolutionized the electric lift truck industry. Their charging could be completed during the course of lunch and coffee breaks, enabling them to get back to work much faster.