Generally, electric forklifts are the most ideal alternative for indoor use within manufacturing and warehousing operations for 2 major reasons: First off they produce zero emissions. This is a very essential factor to consider for indoor work places. Among the Internal Combustion or IC models, only the propane-fueled models could be used indoors and these models still need extremely good ventilation. Units that run on gas and diesel can not be used indoors under any circumstances.
The main benefit of electric forklifts is fuel costs. Compared to IC or internal combustion units, these have lower expenses per hour. Among the main disadvantages to utilizing the electric forklifts is their higher initial expense. New electric lift trucks could vary from 20 percent to 40% more compared to internal combustion units which are similarly rated.
However, electric lift trucks offer numerous advantages including quiet operation. This is a huge plus for indoor operations. Moreover, no requirement for fuel storage mean no room has to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are both dangerous and flammable. As electric lift trucks have less moving parts compared to IC units, and they are typically used inside and in cleaner environments, 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, big, lead-acid batteries, like the ones found inside your car. These batteries are very big and very strong. Typically, batteries offer sufficient power for one standard 8-hour shift, and this means 5 or 6 hours of nonstop utilization.
Charging a forklift battery would take about 8 hours. An extra 8 hours of cooling time is required before it can be used after the charging process is done. Because of this long method of slow charging speed and additional cooling time, if you require forklifts for 2 or 3 shift operations, you should buy extra batteries so you could always be charging the next battery. These additional batteries would add approximately $1000 to $2000 to buy.
On the market these days, there are some new fast charge electric lift trucks. These fast charge batteries have revolutionized the industry of electric lift trucks. Their charging could be done during the course of lunch and coffee breaks, enabling them to get back to work a lot faster.