As the debate continues on the case for and against various forklift motive power choices some of the simple, long-standing control issues are often overlooked, and in the process lead to unfair comparisons between, for example, diesel and electric trucks, and consequently lost financial opportunities. There is also a need to keep abreast of the changing technologies that boost truck performance, particularly in the electric power sector. At one time, for instance, a negative point about electric was the poor performance comparison with diesel or LPG, which meant electric trucks over 2 t lift capacity were a relative rarity. But advances in lead-acid batteries, their chargers, peripheral control kit and overall truck design, according to Toyota Material Handling, mean they end any arguments for buying IC trucks instead of electric. Today it is much more common to see heavy duty electric forklifts of up to 10 t lift capacity.
Without a simple change of attitude over battery purchase and their care, which can improve the case for electrics in various ways, then when renewing truck fleets there is a risk of unfair comparisons between power choices, leading to unnecessary higher costs. Battery producer, Hoppecke’s ‘energy craftsmanship’ explains how. The thinking behind this is to produce a ‘bespoke’ approach because every warehouse is different and has unique needs, so providing an off-the-shelf energy solution is inadequate. This is where smarter control comes in. Some forklifts, for instance, may be used a full eight hours a day in the warehouse while others elsewhere may see only one hour’s work a day. The busier truck batteries might not last the expected five years but the others could expect an eight-year life span. The solution, therefore, is to rotate the trucks and batteries (intelligently cycled) so that all of the batteries last at least five years.
A good example of peripheral control processes is Hoppecke’s trak monitor, which is a battery call forward system that sounds an alarm if an operator tries to take a battery that is not ready for use. Standard battery changing systems do not show which battery should be taken and when. Simple control issues, allied to exploiting the recent remarkable advances in battery technology and chargers, can make a big difference when deciding which form of motive power to use. It seems there is still too much ignorance concerning batteries and that costs money. The message has always been clear: most applications could see sharp increases in battery life simply by following recommended battery care practices.
While one can expect to see lead-acid batteries to remain a major part of the market for at least another 20 years it would be reasonable to expect other emerging motive power technologies to make serious inroads, driven to some extent by environmental concerns. Customers are looking for shorter recharge times, longer usage between recharging, better durability and performance both indoors and out. The technology is already available to deliver these demands but the stymieing factors are high initial costs and lack of infrastructure to provide the fuel, as in the case of hydrogen fuel cells. Lithium-ion batteries, for instance, are at least three times the cost of lead-acid and there are issues of reliability in adverse operating conditions, design problems to overcome about the load balance, and legislation for handling Li-ion technology. In their favour, however, Li-ion batteries can be fully recharged in one hour against eight hours for lead-acid and they last up to three times longer. Their prices will fall, and as they do, along with truck design changes, they will enlarge their market appeal beyond their current acceptability for powered pallet trucks, tow tractors and a few lorry-mounted piggy-back forklifts. One can also say the same for hydrogen fuel cell trucks, which are achieving much higher acceptance in American large fleet users than in Europe. Fuel cell costs will fall as more cell-powered trucks enter service and it seems that its ‘green’ credentials will also improve as large fleet users opt to generate their own hydrogen from on-site solar energy, rather than rely on fossil fuels, making them 100% energy clean.
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