The electric forklift is usually the best alternative for indoor use in manufacturing and warehousing settings. This is mostly due to 2 reasons with the first being that they create zero emissions. This is an extremely vital factor to take into consideration for indoor work places. Amongst the Internal Combustion or IC units, just the propane-fueled units could be used inside and these units still require extremely good ventilation. Diesel and gas powered units can not be utilized inside under any circumstances.
The primary advantage of electric forklifts is fuel costs. Compared to IC or internal combustion units, these have less expenses per hour. Amongst the main disadvantages to using the electric forklifts is their higher initial expense. New electric forklifts could vary from 20% to 40% more compared to IC models which are rated the same.
Electric forklifts however, offer many advantages such as quiet operations, that can be a huge plus for indoor environments. Additionally, no requirement for fuel storage mean no room needs to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are dangerous and flammable. As electric forklifts have less moving parts than IC models, and they are normally used indoors and in cleaner settings, they tend to have a longer lifespan overall.
The electric forklifts biggest disadvantage is the batteries downtime. The large and very heavy, lead acid batteries are quite like the ones now found in cars. These batteries are extremely powerful and really big. Normally, batteries offer sufficient power for one standard 8-hour shift, and this means 5 or 6 hours of nonstop utilization.
Originally, charging a lift truck battery takes around 8 hours. After the charging process is done, an extra 8 hours of cooling time is needed before it can be used. Because of this long process of additional cooling time and slow charging speed, if you require lift trucks for 2 or 3 shift operations, you should buy extra batteries so you can be charging the nest battery always. These extra batteries will add approximately $1000 to $2000 to the purchase price.
On the market these days, there are several new fast charge electric forklifts. These fast charge batteries have changed the industry of electric forklifts. Their charging can be done in the course of coffee and lunch breaks, allowing them to return to work much sooner.