Lifter 01 you summed it up with one word MAINTENANCE.
Another thing you pointed out If it works Don't Fix IT!

I've got to agree with exalt here. Yes the BYD machine might be great but a few weeks of a demo doesn't show how it's going to be after 5 years running 24 hour shifts.
Exalt is spot on with his comments about big fleet users in the uk liking to stick with what they know. But another thing to take into account is the fact that in the uk the majority of big fleets in the uk tend to be on full term hire contracts so customers go with a brand/dealer big enough to service the contract either through breakdown ar pm work. We are one of the few big companies who buy all our own kit and we need to know it will do the job reliably after 5+ years so until these trucks are proven in the market place we will stick to what we know.
Back to the original argument I will repeat what I said about lead acid with a good battery maintenance regime, we have 4 Yale counterbalance trucks on site 18 years old and still going strong one of those is still running its original Oldham battery

There seems to be move advantages than disadvantages with Lithium iron phosphate battery's, the battery's chemistry is a lot more stable than standard lithium ion, why have the major manufacturers opted for lithium ion.

Why are people so quick to dismiss the technology without seeing it first hand?
I recently visited several BYD factories across southern China and believe when I say it, this is a game changer!
The battery technology is way ahead of anything available in either a conventional Lead-Acid or standard Lithium-Ion offering currently available and as the same cells are used in their buses and cars, the economies of scale are there for all to see.
The truck itself is also of the highest quality and is not your archetypal Chinese forklift truck. The machine uses major components outsourced from European manufacturers and the chassis is as good as I've seen anywhere in the 29 years I've worked in the industry.
The German market is readily accepting the product and many well-known brands are queueing for trials and demonstrations.
Dismiss BYD at your peril I say....

Looking at BYD they might be a new type of brand now but in six or seven years time when technology they use is proven they might be able to challenge some of the big boys. BYD are a large company with Warren Buffet as a shareholder and he knows a bit about investing in companies.


For now i think BYD will attract small companies and not large fleets like what lifter 01 has because these companies like what they know and tend to stick with this until they can be shown they would save money or save time on a product

Thanks for the offer Ben but for the use and abuse our operators give our trucks we stick with what we know which is a mixed fleet of jungheinrich and crown. My biggest concern is the fact that it is still a Chinese built machine and the support isn't up there with what we are used to for the ones that I have seen so far. We have just shy of 500 pieces of plant on site most running 24 hours with battery swaps and in my experience with a good battery mate nance regime we rarely have problems with lead acid until the truck is end of life anyway

Hi Lifter01,

The guarantee on the BYD battery isnt just that the battery will last for 8 years/10,000 hours but that it will be operating at at least 65% of its original capacity after 8years/10,000hrs. In fact in our experience that is on the low side, most of the tests and simulations we have run show the battery operating at 75%+ after 4,000 cycles (a lead acid battery is usually dead after 1500-1800 cycles). Paired with the speed it charges at and the option of opportune charging there should be no reason why the forklift isnt still meeting its needs 10-15 years down the line.

I appreciate that for all the claims, the proof is in the pudding so if you ever want to see it in action, we would be happy to give you a free trial for a few weeks.

One of my issues is the 8 year 10000 hour warranty it sounds great on paper but 25 hours a week??? We currently get 5 years warranty from enersys on our lead acid batteries. At the 10000 hours quoted the bud batteries would be out of warranty before our lead acid,s so for us it's a non starter

Hi,

As mentioned above, we at IVS are a dealer for BYD in the UK. We are currently offering demos of our BYD products and in the near future will have stock available in our showroom.

If anyone has any questions, more information, or wants to see this new technology in action please get in touch!

I have seen something where BYD have used their tech to manufacture buses.these seem to be working well.

BYD seem to be a very large company that has the funding to develop new ideas mainly in Battery powered machinery.

Simple but effective in entering the market and over time might take on the major companies.

Companies like some leading European manufacturers simply improve their products over what the market demands and there for will ultamitly lose market share for being to expensive to purchase and maintain.

This is being shown by the emergence of some Asian mamufactures.

They don't sell the battery seperately. Even if they do, it's way more expensive than lead-acid one.

They use Zapi controller. The battery is good. No need to maintain, and it takes only 90 minutes to be fully charged.

Just to give you an example of the technology in use... The batteries in the electric BYD buses that London has just purchased is the same.

http://www.byd.com/news/news-287.html

Hi Burt,

It is true and the technology is already in use. We would be happy to come and talk to you regarding the range available if you would like to know more? Its a very exciting time for the industry! At present, we are the only dealer in the UK.

What about the old saying "if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is". Why has no one used this type of battery before.

I too was reading an article in SHD magazine July issue, here in the UK last week about the BYD trucks, i'm quite interested in the new battery technologies and have been speaking to a couple of contacts in the battery industry to see if this is actually viable tech or just sales chat.
If it is true on the report i read, this has the potential to be massive, at last the end to operators wrecking batteries through poor maintenance.

anything you found yet ?