Heavy forklift batteries expose installers to crushing hazards during installation, and batteries that are too heavy for equipment to handle make it extremely easy for porters and transporters to tip over, causing bodily harm to workers.
To understand how forklift batteries can affect your operation, you first need to know what a forklift is.
Forklift is a kind of industrial transportation vehicle, mainly for pieces of pallet items for loading and unloading, short-distance transportation, placement of various types of wheeled handling vehicles. Transported in ports, factory workshops, warehouses and other scenes, it is an essential equipment in pallet transportation and container transportation.
So the forklift battery is the battery used to power the forklift. And the weight of forklift battery is very important in the whole operation cost compared with other batteries.
Weight of Forklift Battery
The weight of different types (e.g. lithium and lead-acid batteries) and sizes of forklift batteries varies considerably, with the weight of an electric forklift ranging from 100 to 700 kilograms. For example, lead-acid batteries weigh roughly between 300~700 kilograms and lithium batteries weigh roughly between 100~200 kilograms. The weight of forklift trucks ranges from 1 to 9 tons, in comparison, the weight of forklift batteries in forklift trucks is still quite large, and inevitably attracts attention.
Why are forklift batteries so heavy?
As a vehicle that transports large objects, a forklift must need a large-capacity battery to power it. The premise of high capacity is often to have a large volume of batteries, so lead-acid batteries are very heavy, while lithium batteries are much lighter in comparison.
How do forklift batteries affect your operation?
Lead-acid batteries and lithium batteries as an example for elaboration.
1. Weight
1.1 Lead-acid batteries are often accompanied by a heavy metal block to prevent them from being damaged, which also increases their weight. However, compared to such a heavy forklift, such weight is necessary. Because the forklift has to lift heavy objects (which can weigh up to 36,000 pounds) several feet, something is needed to help balance the weight.
1.2 Lithium batteries are slightly lacking in this area, because lithium metal is very light as well as it’s high energy density, lithium batteries are lighter, which means the forklift carries less weight. However, this is not a big problem as we can provide additional weight by adding metal plates (whose weight does not count towards the weight of the battery, so it is easier to maneuver when installing the battery compared to lead acid batteries).
2. Energy Storage
2.1 Lead acid batteries have an average run time of 5 to 6 hours and they need to be recharged for 8 hours and go through a cooling period of 8 hours. This drawback makes it necessary to have 2~3 batteries per forklift when charging the forklift. It not only increases the operation cost, but also has great disadvantages in operation.
2.2 Lithium batteries have great advantages in energy storage, lithium batteries are fully charged in less than 2 hours, lithium batteries run for about 7~8 hours on a single charge, and they do not require the same cooling time as lead-acid batteries.
Lithium batteries can also be opportunity charging, that is, short-term charging in 15~30 minutes. Then time can be utilized in a short period of time like a meal to effectively recharge. At the same time your lithium batteries can also be charged in shifts, so your truck can operate in multiple shifts with only 1 battery, which greatly improves the efficiency of our workshop operations.
3. Handling operation
3.1 As mentioned above, lead-acid batteries weigh a lot, and in terms of charging the batteries, the batteries need to be taken off the forklift and transported up. This raises the cost of manual transportation and also reduces the efficiency. The high weight also poses a problem for worker safety.
3.2 For lithium batteries, which are rechargeable batteries that do not require removal of the battery, they can be plugged directly into a nearby charger with the battery remaining on the forklift. Comparatively, lithium greatly reduces the labor costs required to transport the battery and also provides for worker safety.
It has been found from experience that the weight of the forklift battery occupies an important position in forklift transportation. Choosing a good forklift battery can not only greatly improve our work efficiency, but also reduce operating costs, and even for the reduction of ecological breakthroughs in terms of great benefit. Although the cost of lithium batteries is larger in the initial operation, in the long run, with its advantages in all aspects, it will surely let you make full use of your money and save you a lot of money.
