The world's first lithium-ion powered forklift to be commercially available is being trialled by supermarket giant, Tesco.

The Jungheinrich EJE112i powered pallet truck, which was launched at the recent CeMAT exhibition in Germany, will shortly be in operation at one of the retailer's main distribution centres.

Richard Ash, Tesco's corporate purchasing manager, commented: "As a company, Tesco is taking up the environmental challenge and is striving to reduce carbon emissions across the business. With its low energy consumption, we believe that the new Jungheinrich EJE 112i truck could play a significant role in helping to reduce CO2 emissions across our materials handling fleet."

Tesco currently operates a large fleet of Jungheinrich powered pallet trucks in the UK and an extensive fleet of Jungheinrich materials handling equipment throughout its global distribution operation.