Max KhaburMax Khabur is the marketing director with Eneroc USA, and has held the elected role of chairman of the Advanced Energy Council, representing a group of companies.
Ask anyone in materials handling why electric forklifts are taking share from propane and diesel machines, and you will probably hear: e-commerce growth, emissions regulations, fuel cost.
They are not wrong. But what most industry commentaries overlook is the rapid decline of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery prices.
It turned lithium from a premium upgrade into the most cost-effective choice in the market. That is what is driving the acceleration.
The electrification trend is not the news
Falling battery costs Vs electric adoption
By 2020, electric forklifts already outnumbered internal combustion engine (ICE) shipments globally. In 2024, they accounted for over 70% of retail orders in North America and Europe, according to the Industrial Truck Association. The trend line was never in doubt.
The real question is why the pace accelerated so sharply, and why ICE holdouts that resisted for two decades, are now converting.
The rise of Class II and Class III
The e-commerce fulfillment explosion changed what warehouses look like: taller, denser, more automated.
This drove strong growth in narrow-aisle reach trucks, the fastest-growing electric segment.
As one panelist at MODEX 2026 put it: “Tighter aisle configurations … have made lithium-powered electrical products the default spec for every new fulfilment project we quote”.
But this does not explain why Class IV and V ICE users, who resisted electrification for decades, are now converting.
For that, we need to look at what happened to the price of LFP cells.
The price collapse that changed everything
LFP is not a new chemistry. But what happened to its cost over the past five years is without precedent.
According to BloombergNEF, lithium-ion battery pack prices averaged $137 per kilowatt-hour (KWh) in 2020. In 2022, they briefly spiked to $151, the first-ever annual rise since the 2000s, driven by surging lithium carbonate demand.
Then the floor gave way.
By 2024, pack prices had fallen to $115 per KWh globally - the largest single-year drop since 2017, down 20% - and as low as $84 per KWh in China.
By 2025, the global average reached $108 per KWH and is still falling. This was a structural repricing event, driven by massive manufacturing overcapacity and intense competition among the leaders: CATL, BYD, LG, Gotion, and CALB.
The market responded immediately. Lithium-ion models expanded to 41% of all electric forklifts, as cell prices crossed $90 per KWh.
In 2024 alone, the Li-ion segment grew more than 10% while ICE variants declined 1% and lead-acid models fell 7%.
Independent research form nteract Analysis projects lithium will surpass lead-acid in share within the electric segment around 2026, and that 81% of all new electric forklifts shipped globally will carry lithium batteries by 2034.
The price objection is over
For years, the counterargument to lithium was simple: upfront cost, typically two to three times that of lead-acid, was a hard stop for capital budgets. That has changed.
LFP delivers roughly 40% lower total cost of ownership in multi-shift operations, with positive ROI typically within 36 months and documented fleet savings exceeding $120,000 per 10-truck fleet over five years.
Upfront cost? Market survey shows that a standard 48V, 1000Ah lead-acid battery from a top manufacturer retails at around USD12,000; its LFP counterpart with similar specifications sells for USD14,000–15,000.
A similar NMC lithium battery can be three times the price of lead-acid and is likely to remain a niche product.
The ICE frontier is opening up
LFP solved the limitations that kept lead-acid from challenging ICE in the heaviest applications: strict charging limits, memory effect, and voltage drops under load.
An LFP flat discharge curve means a truck at 80% depth of discharge lifts and moves as fast as one at 20%. Higher energy density packs more power into the same battery compartment.
Starting in 2024, forklift manufacturers began introducing heavy electric trucks with lifting capacity exceeding 20,000 lbs. (9,072kg), described as “lithium-first”, purpose-built to replace propane and diesel for good.
The default has changed
For the past decade, lithium was the best technology at a premium price. For the past two years, it has been the best technology at a competitive price.
The battery revolution did not begin with regulations or an e-commerce boom. It began when the world’s most competitive battery manufacturers drove LFP prices below the threshold where any other answer stopped making economic sense.