Intralogistics provider Still says its Smart Charging system has saved one customer EUR30,000 (USD32,920).

The unnamed customer with seven lithium-ion charging stations saved EUR10,000 (USD10,970) in energy costs in a year.

"The potential savings we can achieve with Smart Charging are considerable," says Still energy expert Gesa Kaatz.

To set up Smart Charging, Still's energy consultants work with the customer to analyse the potential energy savings. 

The chargers are all networked, with the Smart Energy Unit able to set charging limits for certain time slots and/or prioritise certain chargers. 

"In this particular case, we wanted two of the seven charging stations to provide maximum charging power at all times,” Kaatz says. 

“This supply must not be compromised, so the other charging stations must have a lower priority." 

Further prioritisation means batteries with a low remaining capacity are charged before  batteries with a higher capacity.

Kaatz says intelligent energy management must use lithium-ion batteries, which can be easily recharged between shifts, making them much more flexible than lead-acid batteries. 

In the past, they were usually all charged at the same time at the end of a shift. 

"This led to unintended power peaks with expensive consequences," says Kaatz.

Lithium-ion batteries can be conveniently recharged even during short breaks and are also up to 30% more efficient than lead-acid batteries and more readily available, as there is no need to change batteries. 

Kaatz concludes: "By switching from lead-acid technology to lithium-ion technology, our reference customer has an additional savings potential of around EUR20,000 per year, in addition to the savings of around EUR10,000 through Smart Charging".