The electric lift truck is normally the best option for indoor use in warehouses and manufacturing environments. This is mostly due to 2 reasons with the first being that they produce zero emissions. This is an extremely vital factor to take into consideration for indoor work places. Among the IC or internal combustion models, just the propane-fueled models are able to be used indoors and these units still need extremely good ventilation. Models which run on gas and diesel are not able to be used indoors under any circumstances.
Fuel cost is the other main advantage of electric lift trucks. These models have less cost per hour compared to any of the other IC or internal combustion units. Among the main disadvantages to the electric forklifts is their higher initial expense. New electric forklifts could vary from 20% to 40 percent more compared to internal combustion units that are rated the same.
Electric forklifts however, provide many advantages like quiet operations, that could be a big plus for indoor settings. In addition, no requirement for fuel storage mean no room needs to be allotted for tanks of fuels that are dangerous and flammable. Since electric lift trucks have less components that move than internal combustion models, and they are typically used indoors and within cleaner environments, they tend to have a longer lifespan overall.
The electric lift trucks biggest disadvantage is the batteries downtime. The big and very heavy, lead acid batteries are somewhat like the ones now found in automobiles. These batteries are really strong and very big. Usually, batteries provide enough power for one standard 8-hour shift, and this translates into 5 or 6 hours of continuous utilization.
Charging a forklift battery would take about 8 hours. An additional 8 hours of cooling time is required before it can be utilized after the charging process is done. Because of this long process of extra cooling time and slow charging speed, if you need forklifts for 2 or 3 shift operations, you would need to purchase extra batteries so you can be charging the nest battery always. These extra batteries will add about $1000 to $2000 to purchase.
On the market nowadays, there are several new fast charge electric forklifts. These fast charge batteries have revolutionized the industry of electric lift trucks. Their charging could be completed in the course of lunch and coffee breaks, enabling them to return to work a lot sooner.