Generally, electric forklifts are the most ideal choice for indoor use in warehouses and manufacturing operations for 2 key reasons: First off they produce zero emissions. This is a really vital factor to consider for indoor work places. Out of the Internal Combustion or IC models, only the propane-fueled units are able to be utilized indoors and these units still require extremely good ventilation. Gas and diesel powered models are not able to be utilized inside under any circumstances.
The main advantage of electric forklifts is fuel expenses. As opposed to IC or internal combustion units, these have lower expenses per hour. One of the main drawbacks to the electric forklifts is their higher initial expense. New electric forklifts can vary from 20 percent to 40% more than internal combustion units which are rated the same.
On the other hand, electric lift trucks offer numerous advantages like quiet operation. This is a big plus for indoor operations. Furthermore, no need for fuel storage mean no room needs to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are flammable and dangerous. Because electric lift trucks have less moving components as opposed to IC models, and they are typically utilized in cleaner settings and inside, they tend to have a longer lifespan overall.
The battery downtime is the biggest downside of an electric lift truck. These units run with heavy, large, lead-acid batteries, similar to the ones found in your car. These batteries are very powerful and very big. Normally, batteries offer sufficient power for one regular 8-hour shift, and this translates into 5 or 6 hours of nonstop use.
Originally, charging a lift truck battery takes approximately 8 hours. After the charging process is done, an additional 8 hours of cooling time is required before it could be used. Because of this long method of extra cooling time and slow charging speed, if you need forklifts for 2 or 3 shift operations, you must purchase extra batteries so you could always be charging the next battery. These extra batteries would add roughly $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 revolutionized the industry of electric forklifts. Their charging could be done in the course of coffee and lunch breaks, enabling them to return to work a lot faster.