Konecranes Lift Trucks has always had the goal to set apart through innovations that improve the equipment, safety and are environmentally responsible. Both our digitalisation and electrification journey are great examples of this.
Digitalisation came early to Konecranes forklifts and container handlers. From the start, management and engineers recognized the potential for Controller Area Network (CAN-bus) technology and control units to solve technical challenges, create new functionalities — and set the company’s offer apart in a very competitive field.
Before talking about our electrification journey we need to mention Ecolifting, a Konecranes initiative intended to reduce the energy consumption and the overall carbon footprint of our lift trucks. By reducing the environmental impact of each lift truck we deliver, and offering a variety of power options, we mitigate the effect of our own operations while helping our customers to decrease their carbon emissions when using the trucks.
Smart Connected Lift Trucks
Having a Smart Connected Lift Truck means that the machine is fitted with hardware that allows the data to be collected: sensors, processors and software are embedded. This enables the tracking of key aspects of its performance – from fuel consumption to lifting operations turning insights into powerful outcomes.
TRUCONNECT is a suite of remote digital services that collects and analyses data about Konecranes lifting equipment. It has been a real success, giving operations managers an easy way to track the condition and use of their assets in near real time, so they can optimize productivity and maintenance and get insights on asset performance through the customer portal yourKONECRANES.com.
Due to customer demand, this is now standard: TRUCONNECT Basic has been installed on all new lift trucks since Q2 2022. The basic package with TRUCONNECT Essentials subscription allows to monitor the General Information, Summary and Contract Service notifications.
“TRUCONNECT makes it so much easier to monitor, analyze, understand and optimize your fleet productivity,” says Bertrand Marion, Director, Business Development, IT and Digitalization at Konecranes Lift Trucks. “With all their equipment data easy to access online through our customer portal, yourKONECRANES.com, customers can increase safety, improve sustainability and boost operational efficiency and productivity."
YourKONECRANES.COM is the online hub for all information related to a customer’s fleet of Konecranes lifting machines. Through yourKONECRANES.com, our customers can monitor and control anything at their facility from one lift truck to an entire fleet, at any time, on any device.
“At Konecranes, we understand how to help make the daily operations of our customers more productive,” says Andreas Falk, Senior Vice President, Konecranes Lift Trucks. “Being Smart Connected is no longer an option. It’s clear that digital services lead to greater efficiency that helps businesses to build and maintain their future success.”
Ecolifting and electrification
“Ecolifting is the commitment for Konecranes Lift Trucks to support the market and customer through the future decades of transition with environmental, sustainability, technology, and operational change,” says Jeffrey Stokes, Director Product and Technology Management, Konecranes Lift Trucks. “It’s clear that the next decade will see a significant shift in many aspects of our business and market, to which new innovative ideas combined with new technologies will be a key enabler.”
Ecolifting is also evolving, and it can naturally do so because of the modular product platform Konecranes Lift Trucks has established. This is the one of the most important ground rules for Product Management to ensure agile development and rapid system integration.
“The commitment and purpose of Ecolifting remains unchanged; provide total cost of ownership (TCO) saving solutions whilst making better choices for the environment by using less fossil fuels and improving performance,” adds Jeffrey.
The Ecolifting solutions available are: our electric forklift E-VER, Power Drive and Flow drive.
Today we will focus on the award-winning Konecranes electric forklift truck E-VER.
E-VER
Operating in an environmentally responsible way is now a business priority. The electrification of machines traditionally powered by combustion engines, like heavy-duty lift trucks, is an easy way that customers can support the environment while continuing to build success in their businesses.
For many businesses that operate forklift trucks with a capacity of 10 tons or more, electrification has become a very attractive option. In fact, electric solutions have now developed to the point where it’s hard not to justify such a transition, especially if the goals are to reduce the carbon footprint and noise emissions while simultaneously lowering operating costs and improving the drivers’ work environment.
“Electric lifting is well-established at Konecranes, but in this project we are bringing electrification to the next level with a highly innovative solution,” says Lisa Martinsson, Senior Project Manager, who leads the electric lift truck development program.
The E-VER combines durable, heavy-duty lifting machinery with an all-electric drivetrain and the latest eco-efficient features to help improve productivity while reducing energy consumption, carbon emissions, and operational costs.
It achieves this by using a lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery that powers a 110 kW electric drive motor and an 80 kW motor for hydraulics and lifting. One of the benefits of using a Li-ion battery is that it charges quickly, taking only 45 minutes for a full charge that gives another 4-6 hours of operation. In addition, no emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.
The E-VER line gives customers a way to surpass the productivity of diesel engine powered lift trucks, while improving their sustainability.
Operating in an environmentally responsible way is now a business priority. Electrification of traditionally combustion engine powered machines, like heavy lift trucks, is an easy way customers can make a win for the environment and a win for their business.
“On the sales side we understood there will be a great interest in our E-VER forklift truck, but I must admit that the interest is greater than we expected and the reception from our customers has been nothing but great,” says Patrik Lundbäck, Vice President, Sales and Distribution, Konecranes Lift Trucks. “In addition, in December 2021, Konecranes launched Battery as a Service (BaaS), a breakthrough technology and business model. We now provide upgradable and remotely monitorable Li-ion batteries to our BaaS users. This allows customers to buy an E-VER electric heavy forklift without the battery so that they can choose the best battery setup for their current needs.”
The battery is subject to a monthly fee based on actual usage, monitored in real-time at yourKonecranes.com. In this way, the battery becomes an operational expense, reducing the cost of the initial capital investment. Continuous monitoring ensures optimal battery performance.
Konecranes Lift Trucks
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