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Looking Into The Future of Forklifts: Battery Technology
Currently, most electric forklifts use lead acid batteries as their power source. However, technology is making rapid advances with alternative electric power sources and hybrid motors. We are seeing this type of power technology being used today to power electric vehicles and trucks so it is only a matter of time before forklift power systems follow suit. Currently, the forklift industry is starting to engineer new systems and some following points can be discovered from this:
1: Lithium-ion Battery Technology.
As of this writing, lithium-ion battery concepts are being tested on forklift prototypes and have not been finalized for production models. New innovations such as carbon electrodes and silicon are also being researched as potential power sources. While we don’t see Lithium-ion batteries in forklifts today, it’s worth noting for the future.
2: Smart Battery Technology
New innovations for forklift batteries include built-in controls to keep the battery in peak working condition for maximum periods of time. Additionally, smart-batteries of the future can detect misuse or overload and shut down as a safety feature.
3: Green Energy Plays a Part
Today, we are seeing more focus on green energy sources such as solar and wind power. Because these energy options are weather-dependent, it is crucial that energy storage facilities are developed as well. With these green energy sources, new battery technology is playing a larger role in this. Look to the future with forklifts using these green energy sources, an example is a factory with solar power panels on the rooftop, possibly charging the forklift batteries.
4: New Batteries – New Forklift Design
New battery designs are lighter than traditional lead-acid batteries. With this in mind, forklifts that normally use the weight of the lead-acid batteries as a counterbalance will have to be redesigned to adapt to the new technology.
5: Faster Charging Times
With these new energy technologies, we will be seeing vast improvements with charging times for forklift batteries. Improved convenience should result for the forklift operator.
It’s fair to say that within the next five years new improvements with battery technology will result in better productivity and profits for forklift operators.
(Forklift Blog Post March 09/2017)