The electric lift truck is generally the most ideal alternative for indoor operations within 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 consider for indoor work places. Out of the IC or internal combustion models, only the propane-fueled units could be used indoors and these models still need really good ventilation. Diesel and gas powered models are not able to be utilized inside under any circumstances.
The main advantage of electric lift trucks is fuel costs. As opposed 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 cost. Brand new electric lift trucks can vary from 20% to 40 percent more than IC models which are similarly rated.
Electric forklifts however, provide many benefits such as quiet operations, that could be a huge plus for indoor environments. Additionally, no requirement for fuel storage mean no room has to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are both flammable and dangerous. Since electric lift trucks have less parts that move than IC models, and they are usually used indoors and in cleaner settings, they tend to have a longer lifespan overall.
The battery downtime is the biggest disadvantage of an electric lift truck. These models run with heavy, large, lead-acid batteries, like the ones found in your automobile. These batteries are very strong and really big. Normally, 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 lift truck battery would take about 8 hours. An extra 8 hours of cooling time is required before it can be used after the charging process is completed. Because of this long method of extra cooling time and slow charging speed, if you need forklifts for 2 or 3 shift operations, you must buy additional batteries so you can always be charging the next battery. These additional batteries will add roughly $1000 to $2000 to buy.
There are some new fast charge electric forklifts available on the market. These specialized batteries have changed the electric forklift business. Their charging can be done during the course of lunch and coffee breaks, allowing them to return to work a lot sooner.