A Carer battery electric forklift.

Privately owned Australian forklift hire and sales company Lencrow Group has been appointed as exclusive Australian distributor of the Carer range of one tonne to 25-tonne battery electric forklifts.

Lencrow Group, based in Sydney, has offices in Melbourne and Brisbane, and agents in South Australia.

Lencrow managing director Ross Grassick said he had been dubious about electric forklifts but now thought they were "incredible".

"Australia is an IC [internal combustion] country but, after 30 years in the forklift industry, I have seen how battery-electrics can actually perform, and I think the duty cycles are incredible," he said.

"Some European customers are saying the electrics have a 13-hour duty cycle. I'm unsure about that, but what I have seen is that savings in fuel and running costs are indisputable."

Italian electric forklift manufacturer Carer snc is based in Cotignola, northern Italy, and has 46 electric models. The forklifts aimed to "carry out exactly the same tasks as internal combustion engine forklifts and provide users with exactly the same productivity - but at significantly lower running costs", a Carer statement said.

It said Carer exported 40 per cent of its forklift range to Europe, the US and Australasia and claimed to enjoy a 30 per cent share of the Italian heavy duty forklift market.

Grassick said end users were "impressed" with Carer forklifts' energy capacity.

"Bavarian Beer has 1.8-tonne Carer models running up and down ramps and most of them have air-conditioned cabins."

The Carer range includes one tonne to 16-tonne production models and 16-tonne to 25-tonne special orders.

Grassick said Lencrow dealt directly with Carer's Italian engineers for machine-based Australian customer requirements.

"If a customer needs the chassis to be three inches longer, for example, we contact the Italian factory," he said.