Normally, electric lift trucks are the best choice for indoor use in warehouses and manufacturing applications for 2 key reasons: First off they produce zero emissions. This is an extremely vital factor to consider for indoor work places. Among the IC or internal combustion models, just the propane-fueled models could be used inside and these models still need really good ventilation. Gas and diesel powered models are not able to be used indoors under any circumstances.
The primary advantage of electric forklifts is fuel expenses. Compared to internal combustion or IC models, these have lower costs per hour. One of the main drawbacks to using the electric forklifts is their higher initial expense. New electric lift trucks can vary from 20% to 40% more than IC models that are rated the same.
Electric lift trucks however, offer numerous benefits like quiet operations, that can be a big plus for indoor environments. Additionally, no fuel storage requirements mean no room needs to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are both dangerous and flammable. Since electric forklifts have less parts that move as opposed to IC models, and they are normally used indoors and within cleaner settings, they tend to have a longer overall lifespan.
The electric forklifts biggest downside is the batteries downtime. The large and very heavy, lead acid batteries are quite like the ones now found in automobiles. These batteries are really large and really strong. Typically, batteries provide an adequate amount of power for one standard 8-hour shift, and this means 5 or 6 hours of nonstop utilization.
Charging a lift truck battery will take around 8 hours. An additional 8 hours of cooling time is required before it could be used after the charging process is completed. Due to this long method of slow charging speed and extra cooling time, if you need lift trucks for 2 or 3 shift operations, you should buy extra batteries so you could always be charging the next battery. These additional batteries would add about $1000 to $2000 to buy.
There are a few new fast charge electric forklifts available on the market. These specialized batteries have changed the electric forklift business. Their charging could be completed in the course of coffee and lunch breaks, allowing them to get back to work much faster.