Nearly a quarter of all Toyota electric-powered forklift trucks ordered for delivery in the UK now feature Lithium-Ion battery (LiB) technology.

“While lead acid remains by far the dominant battery type within the electric-powered forklift market, sales of Lithium-ion forklifts have been on a sustained upward curve for some time,” says Gary Ison, Sales Training & Product Development Manager at Toyota Material Handling UK.

He continues: “Lead acid batteries have been a highly capable forklift power solution for years, and it is estimated that in the region of 90 per cent of all electric forklifts in operation throughout the world are still running on these battery types. But Lithium-ion battery technology is now seen as the next evolution in forklift efficiency.”

Lithium-ion’s share of the electric forklift market is widely expected to proliferate significantly over the next five years with a report recently undertaken by India-based analysts, Research Dive, forecasting that the global Lithium-ion forklift battery market will be worth close to $1,400,000 by 2026.

Gary Ison says: “Over the last decade or so, electric-powered forklifts have become an increasingly popular choice for businesses across all industry sectors who find themselves under growing social and legislative pressure to operate in as environmentally sensitive way as they can.

“Traditionally, electric lift trucks have relied on lead-acid battery technology but the Lithium-Ion solution has now become well established as a viable alternative. Today, in the right applications, Lithium-ion is revolutionising the way some companies operate their intralogistics processes.”

Growth in the LiB-powered forklift market is being driven by a number of factors, not the least of which are the energy efficiency benefits and savings on fleet running costs that Lithium-ion offers.

But of equal significance are the advances in both battery and charger technology that have alleviated the health and safety issues that, for a while, were linked with LiB following a number of high profile fires at industrial buildings reportedly started by malfunctioning Lithium-ion batteries.

“There is no doubt that, some of the problems experienced by the early adopters of LIB technology made people cautious, but the science has moved on and it is easy to understand why more and more electric truck users are interested in Lithium-ion,” says Gary Ison.

He continues: “Lithium-ion batteries have the ability to be recharged in as little as one hour – which increases a truck’s overall availability. One hour’s charging will give in the region of 4 to 5 hours of operating time.

Also, as these batteries allow for opportunity charging, trucks can be recharged anywhere by the operator during breaks in a shift or other periods of downtime. As a result, there is no need to swap batteries – so dedicated charging rooms and spare batteries aren’t necessary.”

Lithium-ion’s quick and easy opportunity charging functionality means that LiB fleets are most beneficial at sites where trucks are working at high intensity over multiple shifts or extended periods.

“Lithium-ion’s suitability as a power source for lift trucks is not driven by the number of forklifts in operation at a site but by the intensity of their schedule. A company that runs one reach truck 24 hours-a-day will benefit from switching to LiB while a facility with a dozen machines that are used for light duties from 9-to-5 would commercially probably still be better served by trucks powered by lead acid batteries,”explains Gary Ison.

“But,” he cautions, “at any multi-shift operation with a high number of trucks working it is essential to manage and schedule operator break periods and consider the scenario where several trucks are ‘plugged in’ for recharging at the same time.”

Comments are closed.