Fleet managers ditching diesel for lithium

Prokosch said: “End users traditionally deploying IC trucks are not usually inclined to invest in the charging infrastructure that comes with lead-acid forklifts. Furthermore, it is possible to find lithium-powered counterbalance trucks that can match IC models in performance terms in mainstream applications.”

Linde used its World of Material Handling 2022 customer event to comment on a decisive shift in European counterbalance truck sales from IC to electric models.

Linde said the counterbalance market had moved from 35% electric, 20 years ago; to 45% electric, 10 years ago; to 60% electric, today.

Prokosch said he expects IC trucks to occupy a small counterbalance truck niche in 10 years time.

He added that Linde will be customer-led and continue to offer a wide variety of fuel types on its forklift range.

“The world is complex, with changes happening fast. We are focused on helping customers, we want to understand all warehouse and material handling processes and help customers to master them.

“Lithium ion sales are 5% up from last year, and we expect that to continue.

“We don’t know when but IC trucks will come to an end. To help us adapt to unpredictable customer demand, we have ensured that our three main counterbalance truck ranges have a large number of shared components. We can make them all from the same assembly line, and this allows us to flex production to adapt to customer needs.

“The warehouse of the future will be dark and people-less, but this will not happen overnight, as processes need to be standardised. This is a task which should not be underestimated.”

The World of Material Handling 2022 took place on an area of 17,000 square metres at the Mannheim Maimarkt site, with the intralogistics specialist presenting its extensive portfolio of products, solutions and services – for example, using the case of a bottle manufacturer to demonstrate the process from goods receipt to the last mile in the store. Several thousand guests attended the World of Material Handling (WoMH), mainly from Europe. 

Visitors experienced the products and solutions live and in motion for an entire day in realistic application scenarios. At the same time, they had the opportunity to discuss their individual challenges and wishes with product experts and consultants and find suitable solutions.

The show also gave Linde one of its first opportunities to publicly showcase the innovative X-range counterbalance platform which was launched at the end of 2019 just before the pandemic.

For more information, vist www.worldofmaterialhandling.com