Usually, electric lift trucks are the best alternative for indoor use in warehouses and manufacturing operations for 2 major reasons: First off they produce zero emissions. This is a very important factor to take into consideration for indoor work places. Amongst the Internal Combustion or IC models, just the propane-fueled models are able to be used inside and these models still need extremely good ventilation. Diesel and gas powered models could not be utilized indoors under any circumstances.
The primary benefit of electric lift trucks is fuel costs. As opposed to IC or internal combustion units, these have lower costs per hour. One of the main disadvantages to the electric forklifts is their higher initial cost. Brand new electric lift trucks could vary from 20% to 40 percent more than IC units which are similarly rated.
Electric lift trucks on the other hand, provide many advantages like quiet operations, that can be a huge plus for indoor environments. Furthermore, no requirement for fuel storage mean no room needs to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are both dangerous and flammable. Because electric lift trucks have less parts that move than internal combustion units, and they are usually used within cleaner environments and inside, they tend to have a longer overall lifespan.
The electric lift trucks biggest downside is the batteries downtime. The big and very heavy, lead acid batteries are quite similar to the ones now found in cars. These batteries are really big and very strong. Typically, batteries offer an adequate amount of power for one standard 8-hour shift, and this means 5 or 6 hours of nonstop use.
Charging a forklift battery will take around 8 hours. An extra 8 hours of cooling time is needed before it can be utilized after the charging process is done. Due to this long method of extra cooling time and slow charging speed, if you need forklifts for 2 or 3 shift operations, you must purchase additional batteries so you could be charging the nest battery always. These extra batteries will add around $1000 to $2000 to buy.
There are a few new fast charge electric forklifts on the market. These specialized batteries have changed the electric lift truck business. Their charging could be completed in the course of lunch and coffee breaks, enabling them to return to work much sooner.