Personally I think it will be a long time before lithium becomes common place on counterbalance lifts and reach trucks. Until the price gap closes between lead acid and lithium it's hard to justify the cost.

As for hoping for 5 min charge times in the future I cannot see that being a reality. What about charger input currents? You would need say a minimum of a 48v 200ah lithium battery to give a 1.5 tonne counterbalance a 2-3 hour run time and to be able to allow enough peak current for motor operations without overstressing the cells.

This is only approximate and based on 100% efficiency but 48v x 200ah is a 9.6kwh battery to charge in 1hr would require the same charger input, however to charge in 5 minutes would require approximately a 115kw charger input!!!!! Plus another 25-30% for inefficiencies and your up to roughly 150kw input.
Now your average industrial unit doesn't have anywhere near this level of power available on their buildings mains main feeder let alone just to charge a forklift.

I do agree though in the under 5 tonne bracket I'm struggling to justify diesel over electric now. Clean, quiet and plenty of torque. Modern AC counterbalances are the only forklifts that don't struggle to climb the back of a beaver tail lorry, just sail up no fuss at all, a minor point I know but blows the 'power' argument out the water.

Electric is the future but there is a long way to go, and it's not just the fork trucks themselves.

Im having a discussion on a different platform and have been getting some interesting points manly from people who have got a interest in diesel powered forklifts. Now yes i do have a interest in HFC forklifts i want to make that part clear. but here is something of the discussion whats peoples opinion here

There are many people who still don't want to take the blindfolds off and relies that hydrogen fuel cell forklift are not only more sustainable but are in fact much better value than Diesel, LPG or CNG forklifts over 6,000kg so let's let the figures do the talking.

Hydrogen fuel cell 10,000kg forklift

Cost price $ 125,000
Number of oil / filter changes over 5 years 9
Cost per hour including fuel $ 12.5


Diesel 10,000kg forklift

Cost price $ 128,500
Number of oil / filter changes over 5 years 43
Cost per hour including fuel $ 17.5


Now you might still want to believe that hydrogen won't over take diesel within 5 years , but in 5 years' time will you still be in business

As companies look at for a more sustainable product to reduce their CO2 foot print Hydrogen fuel cell powered forklifts will answer this need above 6,000kg. Nearly all manufactures of large counter balance forklifts have still not raised the blindfolds of design when they are looking at a sustainable option for their customers. They believe that the customer would settle for an electric powered forklift that use lead acid batteries or even in a very small number of cases lithium iron. But the reality is somewhat different, A 8,000kg electric forklift has a service weight of 14,100KG, electric forklifts provide high levels of productivity but do not produce any (CO2) emissions. However the range is only 6 hours before battery recharging. Battery recharging on electric trucks takes from 6 - 12 hours meaning the truck is unavailable or battery exchange is required to provide continues availability. Compared to an 8,000 kg Hydrogen fuel cell truck weighs only 11,800 kg has a working range of 16 hours before a 5 min refueling

I see lithium playing a big part for big players Linde, Toyota, Jungheinrich etc. for national contracts, supermarkets transport companies etc. but until it is tried and tested i don't see many independents getting involved there is too much risk if batteries fail, its not just a case of replacing a cell when it fails. its major work each time. i could imagine the cost of replacements are not cheap either. To me lithium is not tried and tested in forklifts.

It seems to be the manufactures of trucks pushing lithium and not the battery manufactures pushing lithium. That is just my thoughts.

Major Global companies are looking at more sustainable products. DP World are leading the way in the port sector. With Amazon and Walmart in the warehouse sector, This will be either Lithium iron products or Hydrogen Fuel cell products

DP World trialling the Kalmar FastCharge shuttle carrier

https://www.forkliftaction.com/news/newsdisplay.aspx?nwid=19520&nwtype=411&counter=yes&usid=120613&neid=838

Hi Yidneck and you don't have IC forklifts that break down. New technologies are coming that will help eliminate downtime. Diesel is now causing more health problems and other problems like contribution to global warming. Customers will all talk with their feet and move away from Diesel when new technologies move into the market.

Very few lithium vehicle batteries have reached the end of their life cycle yet, so the technology to recycle them has barely started to develop.

The recycling of small lithium batteries is a well-established industry, it is either converted to lithium carbonate or dissolved to make it non-reactive and then used for other purposes. I don't believe it is similar to nuclear waste.

Also, there's only a small quantity of lithium in a lithium battery, approximately 100-200g per kWh of battery capacity.

Cause you now have A. An electric forklift prone to breakdowns. B. A hydrogen fuel cell prone to breakdowns.
And as far as sustainability. Deep cycle batteries are fully recyclable with every part being reused, including the acid. Lithium on the contrary is almost like nuclear waste.

Looking at the storms being caused by global warming,there needs to be a more sustainable future. Both hydrogen and lithium can answer this problem. As for down time of hydrogen fuel cell trucks they need less servicing than ic trucks and can be repaired much faster than ic trucks so how can they double down time

Lithium ion will become an environmental nightmare, as there's no way to dispose them. Hydrogen fuel cells you have the problem of doubling down time and repairs on the truck and high cost. I believe one day they might finally perfect Nicole Tessla's dream of wireless energy (Tessla coil) and eliminate the need for motive energy storage.

Both Lithium and Hydrogen will play their parts in the demise of IC powered forklifts

Doesn't matter which continent it was on, they still ordered them.

Amazon has acquired the rights to buy up to 23% of Plug Power and Walmart has agreed to buy 19%. Amazons involvement is to give it control over technology its competitors use, the same strategy they employed with Amazon Web Service.

Automated warehousing is here now, and it doesn't suit the vast majority of users. And at any rate, many of the AGV's in these automated warehouses will need lithium or hydrogen power anyway.

The Amazon order was in Europe, In North America Both Amazon and Walmart have purchased around 17% of the equity in Plug power a hydrogen fuel cell manufacture.

To say that the market over 5,000kg dosent reflect the whole market in warehouse equipment automation will change how warehouse work in Europe and North America, companies like Toyota and KION will offer full automated warehouse not using reachtrucks pallet trucks and other small forklifts but use a different system all together

Midac already uses lithium iron phosphate in their lithium offering. BYD LiFePO4 batteries are apparently quite simple to recycle, I believe this is not the case with the type of lithium battery that Jungheinrich, Toyota etc use.

In any case, in 2-3 years there will be so many more lithium batteries in cars that will need to be recycled that existing recycling companies will be geared up to do so.