The electric lift truck is normally the best alternative for indoor applications in manufacturing and warehousing environments. This is mostly due to 2 reasons with the first being that they create zero emissions. This is an extremely important factor to take into account for indoor work places. Out of the IC or internal combustion units, only the propane-fueled models could be used indoors and these units still require really good ventilation. Gas and diesel powered models are not able to be utilized indoors under any circumstances.
The main benefit of electric lift trucks is fuel expenses. As opposed to internal combustion or IC models, these have less costs per hour. Among the main disadvantages to the electric forklifts is their higher initial expense. Brand new electric forklifts could range from 20% to 40% more than internal combustion models which are rated the same.
Electric forklifts however, provide many advantages like quiet operations, that could be a huge plus for indoor environments. In addition, no fuel storage requirements mean no room has to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are flammable and dangerous. As electric lift trucks have less parts that move as opposed to IC models, and they are usually utilized inside and in cleaner environments, they tend to have a longer overall lifespan.
The battery downtime is the biggest disadvantage of an electric lift truck. These models run with heavy, big, lead-acid batteries, like the ones found in your automobile. These batteries are very strong and really big. Usually, batteries provide a sufficient amount of power for one standard 8-hour shift, and this translates into 5 or 6 hours of continuous utilization.
Charging a forklift battery will take approximately 8 hours. An extra 8 hours of cooling time is needed before it could be used after the charging process is completed. Due to this long process of slow charging speed and additional cooling time, if you need lift trucks for 2 or 3 shift operations, you must purchase additional batteries so you could be charging the nest battery always. These extra batteries would add around $1000 to $2000 to buy.
On the market these days, there are a few new fast charge electric forklifts. These fast charge batteries have revolutionized the business of electric lift trucks. Their charging can be completed during the course of lunch and coffee breaks, allowing them to get back to work a lot faster.