Generally, electric forklifts are the best choice for indoor use within warehouses and manufacturing applications for 2 key reasons: First off they create zero emissions. This is a really vital factor to consider for indoor work places. Among the Internal Combustion or IC units, only the propane-fueled units are able to be utilized inside and these units still need really good ventilation. Gas and diesel powered models could not be used inside under any circumstances.
The main benefit of electric forklifts is fuel expenses. As opposed to internal combustion or IC units, these have lower expenses per hour. Among the main disadvantages to using the electric forklifts is their higher initial expense. New electric forklifts can range from 20% to 40% more than IC models that are rated the same.
Electric forklifts however, offer many advantages like quiet operations, which could be a huge plus for indoor settings. Furthermore, no need for fuel storage mean no room has to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are flammable and dangerous. As electric forklifts have less components that move compared to IC models, and they are usually utilized in cleaner settings and indoors, they tend to have a longer overall lifespan.
The battery downtime is the biggest downside of an electric forklift. These models function with heavy, large, lead-acid batteries, similar to the ones found in your car. These batteries are very powerful and really big. Normally, batteries offer enough power for one regular 8-hour shift, and this means 5 or 6 hours of nonstop utilization.
Charging a forklift battery would take roughly 8 hours. An extra 8 hours of cooling time is required before it could be used after the charging process is done. Due to this long method of slow charging speed and additional cooling time, if you need lift trucks for 2 or 3 shift operations, you must buy extra batteries so you can be charging the nest battery always. These additional batteries would add roughly $1000 to $2000 to buy.
On the market nowadays, there are a few new fast charge electric forklifts. These fast charge batteries have changed the industry of electric forklifts. Their charging could be completed during the course of lunch and coffee breaks, allowing them to return to work a lot sooner.