Alongside its purchasing option for new and used devices, the Hungarian subsidiary of forklift truck manufacturer Linde has a rental fleet consisting of around 1,500 forklift trucks, 230 of which are for shortterm use, at its site near to Budapest. To ensure that the majority of the electric-powered vehicles are always ready for use, the dealer is placing its trust in innovative technology from Austrian battery charging specialist Fronius. The charging system with four Fronius Switch Boxes, which Linde Hungary has been using since the start of the year, uses just four chargers to optimise the condition of 40 batteries, all with different voltages and capacities, and ensures the permanent availability of the fleet.
used devices, Linde Hungary has a rental
fleet consisting of around 1,500 forklift
trucks, 230 of which are for short-term use.
The trend of renting rather than buying is becoming increasingly popular in the intralogistics industry. For companies that do not need a forklift truck all the time or only need to meet a temporary increase in demand, buying is not cost-effective, making renting a significantly cheaper alternative.
Linde Hungary has responded to this trend and specialises in the rental of forklift trucks from its Budapest location, sited close to the motorway and around ten kilometres from the city centre. The company, which was founded in 1996, is a subsidiary of the Linde Group, whose corporate department Linde Material Handling is a world leading manufacturers of counterbalanced lift trucks and warehouse equipment. Linde Hungary generated a turnover of 18 million euros in 2015, and employs around 80 people. Their clients include national and international firms from all sectors of industry. To meet the high demand for forklift trucks, Linde has a fleet of around 1,500 vehicles – 1,200 for long-term lease and 230 for short-term hire. 1,000 of these forklift trucks are electric powered and for this Linde Hungary uses more than 1,500 24V, 48V and 80V batteries with various capacities.
Maintenance of the 230 forklift trucks in the short-term rental fleet, which predominantly runs on batteries, is particularly demanding. “A real challenge for us is that the equipment has to work perfectly and be ready for use again as soon as possible, despite continually changing users,” explains Tamás Sándor, Managing Director of Linde Hungary. “We often have to get the equipment 100% ready for use and out to the next client within 24 hours.” Before Linde Hungary can lease or sell on the used forklift trucks, the equipment is made ready in line with internal quality standards. In spite of this, they often experienced problems with their electric-powered vehicles in the past. “An important factor in terms of availability is the batteries. The main problem was that the charged batteries would often self-discharge when not in use. Not only was this bad for the batteries, it also delayed the entire process, sometimes by as much as a whole day”, recounts Tamás Sándor. “In order to be sure that every client got a fully-charged battery, we had to recharge the batteries before every delivery.”
To solve this problem, Linde opted for innovative battery charging technology from specialists in this area Fronius. “We have worked with Fronius for a number of years and sell the Selectiva battery charging systems,” explains Tamás Sándor about the partnership. At the beginning of February the technology leader, with headquarters in Pettenbach, Austria, installed a Switch Box system at Linde Hungary to charge the rental forklift truck batteries. This consists of four Fronius Switch Boxes, each of which is connected to a high-frequency Fronius battery charging system from the Selectiva 8090 range. Each box has several outputs that can charge up to ten batteries one after the other.
FRONIUS PERFECT CHARGING
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