New forklift motive power sources, like most new technologies, are nearly always initially more costly than the conventional technology it challenges and slow to reach critical mass acceptance but are we about to see a step change very soon? The ruling triumvirate of lead-acid electric, diesel and LPG power sources have not seen much change in their market shares for many years but in the last few years there has been a noticeable trend away from diesel and LPG in favour of electric developments and hydrogen fuel cells, in particular, spurred on by environmental concerns, (backed by legislative changes) rising fuel costs and the improved performance of electric versus diesel and LPG.
Whatever the technology for forklift motive power it now seems reasonably clear that environmentally friendly energy solutions with good lifetime costs are the future. However, that does not mean diesel will roll over without a fight, as companies like Doosan continue to make their diesel engines cleaner and cheaper to run. To comply with US Tier 4-final and the EU Stage IV emissions requirement brought in last year, Doosan has developed a unique after-treatment system that removes the need for diesel particulate filters (DPF) – a common cause of engine malfunctions, thus giving it a maintenance advantage over other engines. Even so, unless diesel engine manufacturers develop a solution to eradicate entirely sub 2.5 micron Nox particulates, emissions that are now believed to kill about 60,000 in Britain every year, they are fighting a losing battle against the emerging technologies.
Lest there be any doubt of that one need look no further than what the forklift manufacturers are doing. Nacco Materials Handling Group, for example, producers of the Hyster and Yale brands, bought Nueva Fuel Cells last year because it believes the use of hydrogen in fuel cells is a winning combination that offers great value to many of its customers. Moreover, given the improved performance of electric trucks, ICE- powered lift truck users can replace engine-driven trucks with electric models powered by a fuel cell solution such as the Nueva Power Edge battery box replacement, a drop in replacement for lead-acid batteries. But to realise the full benefits of fuel cells there must be a dedicated source of fuel and so Nueva has developed PowerTap, a hydrogen generation appliance that enables the shift from batteries or engine to fuel cell power sources. The hydrogen dispensing is only 1 to 3 minutes and operators can refuel at anytime. Noxious emissions are zero. Hydrogen can be made from multiple feed stocks, including renewables such as bio-methane and solar electrolysis. Natural gas usage for vehicles is forecast to cost less than half diesel within the next three years. While hydrogen fuel cell trucks can run up to three times longer than its lead-acid battery-powered counterparts the initial outlay for both the fuel pack and infrastructure is more costly than for traditional lead-acid battery set-ups but some believe that the ROI can be only 12 months on large fleets in multi-shift operations.
Another forklift and battery company making serious waves in alternate motive power is the Chinese company, BYD, which intends to market its range of Iron-Phosphate powered electric trucks in the UK this year. The earliest electric challenger to lead-acid batteries is Lithium-Ion (Li) which initially met with unfortunate safety concerns but the technology has moved on to make it safer. There have seemingly been no reported Li battery safety incidents so far in the MHE market but the fear is that some local battery pack assemblers will enter the market and put in unsafe technology. There are many different Li batteries and some are safer than others, says Ron Dutton, CEO of Flex Power. However, “with careful selection of proper chemistry for the application, combined with proper testing and certification, new technologies based on our experience with Li can be safely deployed with hugely successful results,” he said. Flex Power has also experimented with new materials like manganese spinel and nano-phosphate and Dutton is particularly excited by the latter for Li phosphate-based Li batteries which he believes will sharply raise cycle life and power output.
Despite truck design issues still to be resolved if Li is to become common on conventional forklifts where a lead-acid battery is an essential counterweight part of the truck’s design it seems that there can be little doubt that Li batteries are one of the most popular of the new energy source technologies. Daiwa Capital Markets remarked in a recent global market report on energy storage that Li technology was likely to see market growth of 550% between 2010 and 2020, with the market worth about $68 billion in 2020, of which forklift batteries could be a significant part.
Comments are closed.