Every day there is more information about electric cars in the news – Tesla of course – but also BMW, Volvo and many Chinese manufacturers are developing electric cars & trucks. By 2030 Volvo wants to focus on electric cars only. What about the material handling industry? Surprisingly electric forklifts are already around for about 50 years. Since electric forklifts are around much longer the numbers in the forklift market are even more promising: in 2019 in Europe, a total of 504.000 forklifts trucks were sold, 97.000 electric – that’s about 20% – while electric cars only made 3,6% of total car sales. Operators of material handling equipment now have the choice between electric forklifts, cranes, straddle carriers and even port & terminal tractors. Even electric Reach Stackers are on the horizon. What are the benefits of an electrically powered vehicle?
environmentally friendly = zero emissions
high battery autonomy
high performance
low operating costs
high efficiency
less noise
An electric vehicle will only need power when it’s being used – driving or lifting. A key feature is software controlling the vehicle. It also allows easy maintenance and damage control. The electric components require very little maintenance and are easily replaceable. Even though the vehicle might costs a bit more in the beginning it will usually make up for it within a short time – and after that operators are saving money. Depending on product and operation savings in the total cost of ownership up to 30% are possible. In addition, government regulations in most countries are quite ambitious. The United States for example plan to reach zero emissions by 2050. For the car industry, this will be likely if manufacturers will stop selling new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 to the US market. If electric car sales increased by 30% in the next 30 years – by 2050 35 to 40% of all vehicles on the road would be electric. Based on those figures the outlook for the material handling market is even better – by 2050 around 50 to 60 % of all material handling equipment could be electric. For more information about electric material handling equipment feel free to contact me anytime.
