The electric forklift is usually the best choice for indoor use within manufacturing and warehousing environments. This is mostly because of 2 reasons with the first being that they produce zero emissions. This is an extremely essential factor to take into consideration for indoor work places. Among the IC or internal combustion models, only the propane-fueled units can be used indoors and these units still require extremely good ventilation. Models which run on diesel and gas are not able to be used indoors under any circumstances.
The main advantage of electric lift trucks is fuel expenses. As opposed to IC or internal combustion models, these have less costs per hour. One of the main drawbacks to the electric forklifts is their higher initial expense. Brand new electric forklifts could range from 20 percent to 40 percent more than internal combustion models that are similarly rated.
However, electric lift trucks offer many advantages including quiet operation. This is a big plus for indoor applications. Furthermore, no need for fuel storage mean no room needs to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are flammable and dangerous. Because electric lift trucks have less moving parts than IC models, and they are usually used within cleaner settings and inside, they tend to have a longer lifespan overall.
The battery downtime is the biggest downside of an electric lift truck. These models run with heavy, large, lead-acid batteries, like those found in your car. These batteries are really powerful and very large. Typically, batteries offer enough power for one standard 8-hour shift, and this means 5 or 6 hours of continuous use.
Initially, charging a lift truck battery takes around 8 hours. After the charging process is completed, an extra 8 hours of cooling time is needed before it can be utilized. Because of this long process of additional cooling time and slow charging speed, if you need forklifts for 2 or 3 shift operations, you should purchase additional batteries so you could always be charging the next battery. These extra batteries would add around $1000 to $2000 to purchase.
There are a few new fast charge electric forklifts available on the market. These specialized batteries have revolutionized the electric lift truck industry. Their charging could be completed in the course of coffee and lunch breaks, allowing them to get back to work much faster.