Sustainable change
Less downtime for your forklift fleet
No battery swaps needed. Lead-acid batteries need an 8-10 hour break to recharge, but Lithium-ion batteries take advantage of opportunity charging—requiring as little as 10 minutes to charge fully. This means your operation can run continuously without burning out batteries.
The safer alternative
Lithium-ion batteries are the safer option; they're less prone to leaking and don't emit gases during charging, reducing the risk of fire and improving the working environment.
Better for your business—and the planet
The benefits of lithium-ion batteries compared to lead-acid span beyond cost. See how the li-ion battery is better for the planet:
Why Lithium Batteries?
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Lithium-ion batteries have a lifecycle of 3000 or more compared to just 500-1000 cycles in lead acid. Lithium-ion batteries generally last for several times the number of cycles as lead acid batteries, leading to a longer effective lifespan for lithium-ion products. Cycles are also counted in % of charge rather than one cycle every time you connect the battery to the charger. This means: 10% charge is 1/10 of a cycle with a Li-Ion battery, while a 10% charge at a lead acid battery is 1 full cycle.
While lead acid batteries always need a full charge cycle of 8-12 hours to keep the batteries chemistry in balance, LI-Ion batteries really like opportunity charging. They can be plugged in the wall and charge for 10 Minutes during a lunch break. This offers a unique way to work your shifts and reduce the overall Ah carried around in the truck.
Lithium-ion batteries offer high power density which cause lithium-ion batteries to be relatively small and light. It is only one-third the weight of lead-acid batteries. This offers manufacturers the opportunity to develop the trucks with higher standards of ergonomics, bigger legroom and better performing trucks due to the smaller size and weight of the batteries.
Most lithium-ion batteries are 95 percent efficient or more, meaning that 95 percent or more of the energy stored in a lithium-ion battery is actually able to be used. Conversely, lead acid batteries see efficiencies closer to 80 to 85 percent.
Higher efficiency batteries charge faster, improved efficiency means a higher effective battery capacity. Lithium batteries takes 2-3 hours to charge while lead-acid needs 8 hours. Lithium batteries high effective capacity reduces downtime in warehouse duties.
From an ecological point of view, it‘s non-toxic and harmless. Lithium batteries emits no gas so it is a much cleaner technology and is safer for the environment than lead-acid.
Safety of lithium-based batteries has attracted much media and legal attention. Battery management systems (BMS) play a crucial role to protect the battery against short circuit, reverse polarity, over and under voltage, and over current in the reliability of systems utilizing lithium-ion batteries. By data-collecting, calculating and controlling the charge and discharge process of voltage, current, temperature and state-of-charge, BMS secures the battery longevity and improves battery performance.
Lithium-ion batteries are notorious for bursting into flames when overheating, mostly while charging. A good charger is not enough to prevent this. The BMS communicates with the battery, with the truck and with the charger and continuously monitors the temperature. The BMS kicks in when the temperature is out of range.
The BMS also prevents the battery from overheating during usage, as the lifetime of a li-ion battery strongly depends on its operating conditions. And the BMS does more: Charging is optimized and charging and discharging cycles are stored in its memory.
Creating more sustainable operations
About Lithium-Ion Batteries
Transitioning from lead-acid to lithium-ion batteries can reduce your total cost of fleet ownership by 20-40%. Learn about the benefits of lithium-ion batteries and how they can help you run a more efficient business.
Electric powered material handling products are growing heavily in market share in the past 10 years with a strong push due to E-Commerce and the growth of warehousing vs. decentralized storage. In the past all of these trucks have been powered by some sort of Lead acid battery, Gel Battery or AGM Battery. In the recent years, Li-Ion became more and more cost efficient as it played a stronger role in the development and purchase strategy of manufacturers and customers.
Get in touch to learn more
From a total fleet transition to battery services for your forklift, the Spot On experts are on standby to help you along your journey.
Call us to learn more: 1300 972 424
