Generally, electric forklifts are the best choice for indoor use in warehouses and manufacturing applications for 2 key reasons: First off they create zero emissions. This is an extremely important factor to take into account for indoor work places. Out of the Internal Combustion or IC units, only the propane-fueled units can be used inside and these models still require extremely good ventilation. Diesel and gas powered units could not be utilized inside under any circumstances.
The primary advantage of electric lift trucks is fuel expenses. As opposed to internal combustion or IC models, these have lower expenses per hour. One of the main disadvantages to utilizing the electric forklifts is their higher initial cost. Brand new electric forklifts could range from 20% to 40% more compared to internal combustion models which are rated the same.
However, electric forklifts offer numerous benefits like quiet operation. This is a big plus for indoor operations. Additionally, no requirement for fuel storage mean no room needs to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are flammable and dangerous. As electric forklifts have less moving parts as opposed to IC units, and they are usually utilized in cleaner settings and indoors, they tend to have a longer overall lifespan.
The battery downtime is the biggest disadvantage of an electric forklift. These models run with heavy, large, lead-acid batteries, like the ones found in your automobile. These batteries are extremely large and very powerful. Usually, batteries offer enough power for one regular 8-hour shift, and this means 5 or 6 hours of continuous utilization.
Charging a forklift battery will take around 8 hours. An additional 8 hours of cooling time is needed before it could be utilized after the charging process is completed. Due to this long method of slow charging speed and extra cooling time, if you need forklifts for 2 or 3 shift operations, you should buy extra batteries so you can be charging the nest battery always. These extra batteries would add about $1000 to $2000 to the purchase price.
There are some new fast charge electric forklifts available on the market. These specialized batteries have revolutionized the electric forklift industry. Their charging can be completed during the course of lunch and coffee breaks, allowing them to return to work a lot sooner.