Narrow Aisle Lift trucks
Some lift trucks are particularly designed to fit down very narrow aisles in a warehouse. These models are referred to as narrow aisle lift trucks. They could easily negotiate smaller aisles and allow you to enjoy several advantages. For instance, the increased amount of space to store objects can really increase a company's overall available inventory.
The narrow aisle lift truck is manufactured to maneuver quite easily, since they are designed specially to work in tight areas. Their different design has eliminated many of the items that are squished up into the design of the conventional forklift's main body.
These forklifts are very slow in comparison to regular lift trucks which is amongst their key drawbacks. If you have to transport things across large areas, the narrow aisle lift truck is not the best. When it comes to speed they will not be a reliable alternative. If you also have a standard lift truck, this will not be a problem. You can just use the narrow aisle forklift to move the load to a central site and after that hand it off to a regular lift truck that can travel the bulk of the distance in an efficient and timely manner. Frequently, narrow aisle lift trucks cannot handle as much lifting weight; thus, outside of smaller loads they will not be really useful.
Electric Lift Trucks
Traditional gas lift trucks are not a suitable alternative for indoor operations like stores or warehouses. They would not be as safe due to their fumes, or as cost-efficient or useful compared to an electric powered unit. Electric lift trucks are normally engineered to look and function a lot like gas ones, but they depend on electric batteries which should be recharged, rather than gasoline fuel.
Electric forklifts are common for a variety of reasons. For starters, they would save you a lot of money on fuel costs. At first, electric units might cost more but eventually, they make up for this in the long run. For example, when gas prices increase, you will save a lot of cash since you would not be affected. Electric models tend to last quite a bit longer as opposed to gas powered models as well. This is partly because of the fact they are mostly used indoors and hence don't get as dirty or work in as harsh environments as the gas powered models. Electric models are healthier to use in places that are poorly ventilated such as indoor applications and warehouses because they don't emit noxious fumes. It can be extremely dangerous to utilize gas or diesel lift trucks inside.
Among the main disadvantages to electric forklifts is the fact they can generally just work for one 8 hour shift before the battery has to be charged for another shift. Many businesses get around this condition by purchasing a spare battery so they could continually cycle them and have less downtime. There are fast charge batteries emerging on the market that are also minimizing the charging time.