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The Clean Energy Forklift Revolution
Forklifts have been around for generations. Our need for equipment that do the heavy lifting has increased in recent times as labour becomes scarce and online sales boom. The forklift is constantly evolving, from overhead guards to load backrests. Improvement has been at the forefront of this great machine’s success which is why it is no surprise that it is at the fore-front of the clean energy revolution with more customers deciding to convert from the old ways of Gas & Diesel to the new Clean and Green Electric & Hydrogen powered machines.
So, will this new Clean Energy Revolution affect your fleet? To answer that question, we actually have to rephrase it to “When will this new Clean Energy Revolution affect your fleet?”. Undoubtedly in recent times, focus has shifted into a Cleaner & Greener world. We’re all becoming more aware of how fossil fuels have such an impact on our environment and the world demands change.
The scale of benefits for using a “clean” forklift truck are quickly tipping in its favour. Previously, electric forklifts did not carry nearly as much charge as the new cleaner versions. Lithium-Ion versions such as the New STILL RX-20 which, with the upgraded battery makes this a great little truck to use for your operation. The ability to catch up with or even surpass IC/ICE trucks is essential for these new machines to be successful. So, when should I upgrade to the new Electric trucks? We believe that you should always consider Electric with your tenders as it’s possible that you will be able to do the same job for less cost.
The benefits of using Electric are:
- Cheaper Fuel, No need to set up deliveries of Gas bottles or the need to store Diesel on Site. Just simply plug-in and charge.
- No Emissions, Solving the World’s Climate Issues and improving your Operator’s Health.
- No Flammable Liquids/Gasses around the Site, Overall Safety Improves.
Although the benefits seem pretty great, there are actually some drawbacks to Electric Trucks:
- For Optimal battery health, ideally you should keep the battery at between 20% and 80% charge. Keeping the batteries outside of this range can cause damage and reduce battery capacity.
- Electric Trucks can be Expensive, the initial cost is higher than traditional IC/ICE Trucks. However, higher usage will reap higher rewards and surpass the initial cost of the Truck.
- Requires Installation of a Charger which uses Higher Currents than usual 3-pin plugs.
To Summarise, popularity of electric machines is gathering pace and the industry is headed into the time of Renewable energy. The suitability for electric forklifts remains to be a case of discretion as to if the benefits outweigh the drawbacks at this time. Although in the coming years as the technology is developed with increasing speed, we will see a trend in the conversion of ICE to Electric machines.
