How Acclaim Handling Supported Charltons Farm Transition to an Electric Fleet

Charltons Farm wanted to reduce its reliance on diesel-powered equipment and take another step towards its wider sustainability objectives. Acclaim Handling supported the transition by assessing the site, warehouse and existing fleet before recommending an electric forklift that could meet the demands of day-to-day operations.

Charlton Farm is a family-owned business founded in 1946 by George Charlton. They specialise in growing apples, strawberries and cherries across Kent and Norfolk providing high quality to multiple leading retailers. Their operations have scaled with now over 7,000 tonnes of each fruit and 700 staff. They have sustainability objectives and have introduced 10,000 square meters of solar panels and reservoirs of 90 million gallons of water.

One of Charltons Farm goals is sustainability and with their diesel-lead equipment, this was impacting their mission to help the environment. Diesel-powered trucks can contribute a lot of emissions, so Charlton wanted to find trucks that avoided this. The company also faced operating demand growth, so more equipment was needed.

Sam Woods consulted in depth with Charlton Farm stakeholders to establish exactly what they were looking for. Sam Woods carried out site, warehouse assessments and a fleet review. This helped identify what equipment would be a good fit that would meet Charlton Farms objectives and needs for their operations.

After the comprehensive assessments, Sam Woods identified with Charlton Farm main concern was to change from diesel powered equipment so they could meet their sustainability mission. We identified which type of equipment they would need for their daily site operations and gave recommendations of which were electric.

The STILL RX20-20 was recommended because its electric powertrain aligned closely with Charltons Farm’s objective of reducing its reliance on diesel equipment. It met the lift capabilities for its day-to-day operations, helping productivity and their objective.

Acclaim Handling also provides ongoing customer support, helping Charlton’s Farm maintain dependable equipment performance and address any servicing or maintenance requirements throughout the relationship.

• Transition from diesel to electric forklift equipment
• Reduced reliance on diesel-powered materials handling
• Equipment suited to both site and warehouse operations
• Support for Charltons Farm’s wider environmental strategy

“Relationship with acclaim handling for over 20 years”

Chris – packhouse manager