Lithium Ion batteries

Hello,
I am interested in buying electric forklift with capacity 2500 kg. Some dealers are trying to convince me to Lithium-Ion batteries. I am working with forklift approximately 6 hours per day. Have you tested foklifts with these batteries?
I really would like to know your experiences.

Thanks!

I'm interested also.

I haven't seen any Li ion batteries in forklifts, except a motorized pallet jack. That worked fine, but a completely different animal than a 5,000 lb capacity forklift. The weight of the battery is designed into the machine, without thousands of pounds of battery, they'd have to use more cast iron, or concrete for weight.

As far as I know, lead acid batteries are still the lowest cost electrical storage.

Delmer said:

I'm interested also.

I haven't seen any Li ion batteries in forklifts, except a motorized pallet jack. That worked fine, but a completely different animal than a 5,000 lb capacity forklift. The weight of the battery is designed into the machine, without thousands of pounds of battery, they'd have to use more cast iron, or concrete for weight.

As far as I know, lead acid batteries are still the lowest cost electrical storage.

Click to expand...

You are correct about battery weight. The lithium ion batteries have cast iron weights in them. My only experience with a lithium ion battery lift truck is with BYD. They cost nearly double a lead acid battery. The advantage is that you can get nearly 24 hours run time with a single charge. The coolest thing is that you can get a full charge in a hour. The bad is that it takes here in the U.S. 480v to run the charger that can charge it in a hour. Now I am speaking only to what I know about BYD'S . The only advantage I see going through the expense of a unit like this would be if you are running 24/7. Other than that you would be paying for benefits that you would not be using.

Paul Council said:

get nearly 24 hours run time with a single charge. The coolest thing is that you can get a full charge in a hour.

Click to expand...

That would be worth it in some applications.

Laptop batteries that are kept warm and fully charged have a terribly short life. On the other hand, lead acid batteries that are kept fully charged, or moderately discharged and recharged promptly, have a better life than stored dead. Li ion will last forever, if you keep them discharged and in the freezer, not real practical. I don't know if this applies to forklift batteries or not.

I wonder how many of these big li-on's have lit themselves up??? that has got to be a cool inferno with no way to put it out!!! I've seen videos of the teslas going supernova but a forklift ought to be interesting... as for them putting extra cast iron weight in the batts... sounds like a dumb design... couldn't they just as easily sell a retrofit kit with a slab of weight to install under the batt if you want to make a direct fit upgrade to lion's....???

Biggest advantage to LI batteries are that they have full power until they are completely discharged. No slowing down until they are completely discharged. May be a disadvantage on a forklift if you can't baby it back to the charging port as it loses power..

we have them in stand drive reach forklifts and pallet jacks at one of our warehouses and we run 2 shifts with mixed results , there are a a few bugs to work out yet.
I would not recommend them for what you are doing, I would go with lead acid battery and opportunity charge during the day, and keep it clean and watered , I think you will be happier in the end

catman13 said:

...opportunity charge during the day...

Click to expand...

Really? If you can get through your 6 hours of use without going below 50%, then charge it overnight. I thought opportunity charging was for when you couldn't get through the day.

Lead acid of course, Li ion charging and cycles/lifetime are other advantages I guess. still, stick with lead acid.

Thank you guys! Battery cappabilities look so good.

old-iron-habit said:

Biggest advantage to LI batteries are that they have full power until they are completely discharged. No slowing down until they are completely discharged. May be a disadvantage on a forklift if you can't baby it back to the charging port as it loses power..

Click to expand...

Thanks, I think it would not be a problem. It can easily work more than 6 hours and we will charge battery in the night.

Delmer said:

I'm interested also.

I haven't seen any Li ion batteries in forklifts, except a motorized pallet jack. That worked fine, but a completely different animal than a 5,000 lb capacity forklift. The weight of the battery is designed into the machine, without thousands of pounds of battery, they'd have to use more cast iron, or concrete for weight.

As far as I know, lead acid batteries are still the lowest cost electrical storage.

Click to expand...

Hello,
thanks for your message. Yeah I think that it is completely other story beetwen pallet jack and 2500 kg forklift.

lead acid battery should be run down to around 30 percent then charged completely for best battery life .

There was a report on the news a few days ago of a battery powered bicycle going Fourth of July at night. I can only imagine the fire works on a forklift sized unit.

catman13 said:

lead acid battery should be run down to around 30 percent then charged completely for best battery life .

Click to expand...

They take a few deep cycles at the beginning to wake them up, but then they like to be used as little as possible.

https://www.power-solutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Deka-Flooded-2V-spec-sheet.pdf

See cycles per depth of discharge life cycle chart on second page.

(Solar batteries are basically the same as fork lift)

Delmer said:

Really? If you can get through your 6 hours of use without going below 50%, then charge it overnight. I thought opportunity charging was for when you couldn't get through the day.

Lead acid of course, Li ion charging and cycles/lifetime are other advantages I guess. still, stick with lead acid.

Click to expand...

Interesting.. Was in forklifts/batteries from 74 till 92. Sold C&D and Exide. General rule of thumb was (lead acid): Fully charged,
new, run it an 8 hour shift. Charge it 8 hours. Let it cool 8 hours. Repeat. Keep the top clean and no hanging down things
from operators seat to short and use it 5 years.
Some observations... An 8 hour shift in a typical mfg plant goes: Start, work...Stop for break and talk with other ops. Lunch
early start and late return to actual work. Clock out exact of 11 minutes early. You will do good to have gotten 6 hours of full/pull
capacity from it.
Was always told by the people who actually repaired/resealed/replaced bad cells,in these that 30 min here or an hour over lunch
was actually a waste of power used and no appreciable benefit to the battery. (Source Gregory-Salisbury Company-Memphis, TN
and 3 other branches).
Also, if a breakdown test (in its later life -4 to 5 yrs) showed enough cells bad/weak and cost to replace equaled one half of a new one,
get a new one. New cells would be shouldering the load and deteriorating while the old dropped on down. (Non-Survival of the fittest).
Saw a lot of all types of applications in lots of different production and the above seemed to be very true to me.

John C. said:

There was a report on the news a few days ago of a battery powered bicycle going Fourth of July at night. I can only imagine the fire works on a forklift sized unit.

Click to expand...

I found that some Forklifts manufacturers are using special batteries wchich are unable to catch fire. They are much heavier than typical batteries which are using car brands.