Usually, electric forklifts are the best alternative for indoor use in warehouses and manufacturing applications for 2 main reasons: First off they create zero emissions. This is a really essential factor to consider for indoor work places. Out of the Internal Combustion or IC units, only the propane-fueled units could be utilized inside and these units still require extremely good ventilation. Gas and diesel powered units are not able to be used inside under any circumstances.
The primary advantage of electric lift trucks is fuel costs. As opposed to IC or internal combustion units, these have less expenses per hour. Among the main drawbacks to using the electric forklifts is their higher initial expense. Brand new electric forklifts can vary from 20% to 40 percent more than internal combustion models which are similarly rated.
Electric lift trucks on the other hand, offer many advantages such as quiet operations, which can be a huge plus for indoor environments. Furthermore, no need for fuel storage mean no room has to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are flammable and dangerous. Because electric forklifts have less moving components than IC models, and they are normally used in cleaner environments and inside, they tend to have a longer overall lifespan.
The electric forklifts biggest downside is the batteries downtime. The large and very heavy, lead acid batteries are quite similar to the ones now found in automobiles. These batteries are extremely big and really strong. Normally, batteries offer enough power for one regular 8-hour shift, and this means 5 or 6 hours of nonstop utilization.
Charging a forklift battery would take approximately 8 hours. An additional 8 hours of cooling time is needed before it could be utilized after the charging process is done. Due to this long process of additional cooling time and slow charging speed, if you require forklifts for 2 or 3 shift operations, you must buy additional batteries so you could be charging the nest battery always. These additional batteries will add about $1000 to $2000 to the purchase price.
On the market nowadays, there are some new fast charge electric lift trucks. These fast charge batteries have changed the business of electric lift trucks. Their charging can be completed during the course of lunch and coffee breaks, enabling them to get back to work much sooner.