Government and media representatives attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony held by BYD Shaoguan Industrial Park this month.

BYD Shaoguan Industrial Park held a grand opening event this month to display its assembly line of what it says is the world's first iron battery-powered forklift, the BYD 3.5T electric forklift.

Among VIPs who attended were Shaoguan municipal party secretary Zheng Zhentao, Shaoguan mayor Yi Xuefeng, and BYD president Wang Chuanfu and senior vice president Wang Nianqiang.

Wang says the "new energy" forklift industry will be the future of forklift development, and the BYD forklift will pave the way for an innovative market.

The iron battery-powered forklift is a world first, an alternative to lead-acid battery forklifts, which dominate the electric forklift market. BYD claims the new forklift using "new energy" has a long-life battery with a high change/discharge rate and is virtually maintenance free. Compared to conventional internal combustion lead-acid battery forklifts, BYD claims the iron battery production process releases no heavy metal pollution or emissions.

BYD says the 3.5 T forklift accounts for more than 50% of the Chinese forklift market, with internal combustion engine forklifts having nearly 80% of that share.

Forkliftaction.com News asked BYD for more details about the iron battery forklift but the company did not respond by press time.

According to its website, BYD Co Ltd was established in 1995 and specialises in IT, automobile and new energy. It claims to be the world's largest supplier of rechargeable batteries and has the largest global market share for nickel-cadmium batteries, handset Li-ion batteries, cellphone chargers and keypads, and manufactures electric automobiles.

In 2008, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary MidAmerican invested USD232 million to buy a 9.89% stake in BYD.