The electric forklift is usually the best choice for indoor operations within warehouses and manufacturing environments. This is mostly due to 2 reasons with the first being that they create zero emissions. This is an extremely essential factor to consider for indoor work places. Out of the Internal Combustion or IC units, only the propane-fueled models could be used inside and these units still need really good ventilation. Diesel and gas powered models are not able to be utilized indoors under any circumstances.
The main advantage of electric lift trucks is fuel expenses. As opposed to internal combustion or IC models, these have less expenses per hour. Amongst the main drawbacks to the electric forklifts is their higher initial expense. New electric forklifts can range from 20% to 40% more compared to internal combustion units which are rated the same.
Electric forklifts on the other hand, offer numerous advantages such as quiet operations, that could be a big plus for indoor environments. Moreover, no need for fuel storage mean no room needs to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are flammable and dangerous. Because electric forklifts have less moving parts compared to internal combustion models, and they are typically utilized indoors and in cleaner settings, they tend to have a longer overall lifespan.
The battery downtime is the biggest disadvantage of an electric forklift. These units function with heavy, large, lead-acid batteries, like the ones found in your automobile. These batteries are very large and very strong. Normally, batteries provide sufficient power for one standard 8-hour shift, and this translates into 5 or 6 hours of nonstop utilization.
Initially, charging a lift truck battery takes approximately 8 hours. After the charging process is done, an additional 8 hours of cooling time is required before it can be utilized. Due to this long method of slow charging speed and extra cooling time, if you need forklifts for 2 or 3 shift operations, you must purchase additional batteries so you can be charging the nest battery always. These extra batteries will add around $1000 to $2000 to the acquisition price.
On the market nowadays, there are some new fast charge electric lift trucks. These fast charge batteries have revolutionized the industry of electric forklifts. Their charging could be completed during the course of lunch and coffee breaks, allowing them to return to work a lot sooner.