Normally, electric forklifts are the best choice for indoor use in manufacturing and warehousing operations for 2 major reasons: First off they produce zero emissions. This is an extremely important factor to consider for indoor work places. Amongst the Internal Combustion or IC models, only the propane-fueled units could be used indoors and these models still require extremely good ventilation. Gas and diesel powered units are not able to be used inside under any circumstances.
The primary benefit of electric forklifts is fuel expenses. As opposed to IC or internal combustion units, these have lower expenses per hour. One of the main disadvantages to using the electric forklifts is their higher initial cost. Brand new electric forklifts could range from 20 percent to 40 percent more than internal combustion units that are similarly rated.
Electric lift trucks on the other hand, provide many advantages like quiet operations, that can be a huge plus for indoor environments. Additionally, no requirement for fuel storage mean no room needs to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are flammable and dangerous. As electric forklifts have less moving components than internal combustion units, and they are normally utilized inside and in cleaner environments, they tend to have a longer lifespan overall.
The battery downtime is the biggest disadvantage of an electric forklift. These models run with heavy, big, lead-acid batteries, like those found inside your automobile. These batteries are very large and very strong. Normally, batteries provide enough power for one regular 8-hour shift, and this means 5 or 6 hours of nonstop use.
Charging a lift truck battery will take roughly 8 hours. An extra 8 hours of cooling time is required before it could be used after the charging process is done. Due to this long method of slow charging speed and extra cooling time, if you need forklifts for 2 or 3 shift operations, you should purchase additional batteries so you could be charging the nest battery always. These extra batteries would add around $1000 to $2000 to purchase.
There are some new fast charge electric lift trucks on the market. These specialized batteries have changed the electric forklift business. Their charging could be completed during the course of coffee and lunch breaks, allowing them to return to work much sooner.