The electric lift truck is usually the most ideal option for indoor applications within manufacturing and warehousing environments. This is mostly due to 2 reasons with the first being that they produce zero emissions. This is a really essential factor to take into consideration for indoor work places. Among the Internal Combustion or IC models, only the propane-fueled units could be used inside and these models still require extremely good ventilation. Gas and diesel powered units are not able to be utilized indoors under any circumstances.
Fuel cost is the other main advantage of electric lift trucks. These units have lower cost per hour as opposed to any of the other IC or internal combustion units. Amongst the main drawbacks to the electric forklifts is their higher initial cost. New electric lift trucks could vary from 20 percent to 40% more compared to IC units that are rated the same.
On the other hand, electric lift trucks provide numerous advantages including quiet operation. This is a big plus for indoor applications. In addition, no fuel storage needs mean no room has to be allotted for tanks of flammable and dangerous fuels. Because electric forklifts have less moving components compared to internal combustion models, and they are normally utilized within cleaner settings and indoors, they tend to have a longer lifespan overall.
The electric forklifts biggest downside is the batteries downtime. The big and really heavy, lead acid batteries are somewhat similar to the ones now found in cars. These batteries are really large and extremely powerful. Normally, batteries offer enough power for one regular 8-hour shift, and this translates into 5 or 6 hours of continuous utilization.
Originally, charging a forklift battery takes approximately 8 hours. After the charging process is done, an additional 8 hours of cooling time is needed before it can be utilized. Because of this long method of slow charging speed and extra cooling time, if you need lift trucks for 2 or 3 shift operations, you would need to purchase extra batteries so you can be charging the nest battery always. These extra batteries would add approximately $1000 to $2000 to the acquisition price.
On the market today, there are a few new fast charge electric lift trucks. These fast charge batteries have revolutionized the industry of electric lift trucks. Their charging could be completed during the course of lunch and coffee breaks, allowing them to return to work much faster.