Andy Kellett, Calor’s forklift national account manager, says business owners need to learn from what’s happening in the consumer market and choose a long-term energy solution to power their forklift fleets.
The first quarter of 2013 saw the chief executive of Ofgem, Alistair Buckanan, warn UK households to prepare for a steep rise in energy bills in the next two years as Britain moves ‘dangerously’ close to power shortages. He told the press that the UK was becoming more reliant on energy imports and said a fall in the UK’s power production capacity was likely to lead to more energy imports and in turn price rises.
As history dictates, we know through experience that what first effects consumers, rapidly becomes an issue for businesses too.
As the UK’s leading provider of LPG, we believe there has never been a better time to choose the fuel as a long-term solution to power your forklifts.
The case for LPG over electric
LPG forklift trucks operate effectively twenty-four hours a day with no loss of power – no matter how long and active the shift. They have the power to cope easily with steep gradients and uneven surfaces, their lifetime running costs can be lower than electric trucks and they are cheaper to buy and maintain.
Environmentally, LPG has a much smaller carbon footprint than electricity and LPG trucks are far quicker to re-fuel than electric is to charge. In cold weather, LPG can operate effectively down to minus 20 degrees and best of all, there is no battery disposal problem with LPG trucks.
Loss of energy
Ecologically, we have long known that electricity doesn’t hold the best of credentials thanks to the loss of energy during creation and distribution. If you take a traditional coal power station that produces electricity, surprisingly only about 30 to 35 per cent of the energy in the coal ends up as electricity on the other end of the generator.
The most efficient power stations achieve just over 60 per cent. Even at 60 per cent efficiency, there is a huge amount of energy left behind in the generation process – a substantial waste in what we already know are limited resources.
The case for LPG over diesel
The other alterative for fleet operators is of course diesel powered trucks. Here, LPG also has many advantages. For instance, it’s more cost-effective to operate than diesel and can be used indoors as well as out, even in your most sensitive environments such as food storage areas.
Fitted with a 3-way catalyst, LPG trucks are lead and soot free and there’s no possibility of contamination from spillages with LPG as it vaporises – unlike diesel. In addition, LPG produces fewer PM10 particles, which are associated with respiratory problems.
The healthy choice
Of course, the strongest message for LPG over diesel comes from the World Health Organisation (WHO). A panel of experts working for WHO recently announced that exhaust fumes from diesel engines do cause cancer. It concluded that the exhausts were definitely a cause of lung cancer and may also cause tumours in the bladder. It based the findings on research in high-risk workers such as miners, railway workers and truck drivers.
Even more reasons to choose Calor LPG
We are the UK experts when it comes to LPG for both the home and for business. Calor has been providing businesses with LPG for over 75 years. We have the largest fleet of LPG delivery tankers, around 40 Calor Centres delivering cylinders and over 10,000 gas stockists around the country.
Our award-winning Magnatract® Technology is installed in every Calor forklift cylinder and all Calor cylinders contain dip tubes that are manufactured from ‘Memory Plastic’ which, unlike steel, is designed for flexibility and will never fracture. Our dip tubes, alongside the Magnatract® Technology, ensures the internal engineering of our cylinders reduce the risk of interruptions to your business.
We never stop developing our business so that we can help you develop yours. To find out how we can support your business, call us on 0800 022 4199, visit us at IMHX, stand 20G90 or log on to www.calor.co.uk/forklifts.
Calor
Tel: 0800 022 4199
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