 Yale reach trucks powered by OneCharge lithium batteries |
A switch to lithium forklift batteries as the main power source saved hundreds of man-hours in labour, increased uptime, and improved safety, providing an efficiency boost for a large medical care company in California.
By 2019, one of the largest US medical care distribution centres in California had been operating a fleet of 20 electric forklifts for a few years. The ongoing issues with lead-acid batteries started to mount: batteries were getting very hot and inconsistent watering systems meant that the batteries had to be manually watered every week. Occasional acid spills from overwatering damaged the floor coating and the trucks. Routine maintenance which should have taken 30-40 minutes turned into 1.5 hours, and then into two hours of labour daily.
Charging was also problematic, and in some cases a battery would charge only half-way in five to six hours. A driver could come back from lunch to find his truck battery still in need of at least another hour of charge to last him through the rest of the shift.
Not only was productivity adversely affected and overtime costs rising, but safety was compromised as well.
When Jon Rudolph from dealer NITCO introduced the facility management to the new Li-ion technology, the warehouse supervisor was interested, but also apprehensive of the possible technology transfer issues and the costs of a transition to the new technology. The team visited another customer of OneCharge Lithium Batteries, which had been using similar trucks and successfully made this transition earlier - Schneider Electric in Chino, California.
NITCO's initial calculations demonstrated a 22% reduction in the Total Cost of Ownership for the customer's fleet at its California facility. The savings came from lower electricity costs (30% lower than lead-acid) and zero daily maintenance.
The customer is already seeing savings, and when the lease contracts on the remaining lead-acid forklifts expire, they will all be replaced with lithium. The company has also made the decision to use lithium-ion exclusively in all locations going forward.