In the "you take your victories where you can" department, electric-vehicle advocates and environmentalists alike can rejoice in the fact that even electric forklift sales are on the way up. Annual sales of electric forklifts in North America will exceed $500 million by 2020, up from about $100 million this year, according to a study by Navigant (formerly Pike) Research.

The primary reason for such a jump is the drop in technology prices. Specifically, e-lifts (OK, we made that term up) use lead acid batteries, which, at about $250 per kilowatt hour, cost about half to a third of what a lithium-ion battery costs, keeping overall costs down. With falling li-ion battery prices, however, more of them will be used for electric forklifts. Then there are fast chargers and even fuel-cell technology. These technologies will all improve the performance of zero-emission forklifts and, as a result, will drive more sales, Navigant says.

The subject of falling lithium-ion prices is a topical one to all things EV. Navigant recently put out a report saying that lithium-ion battery costs may fall to $300 per kWh by 2015 and to $180 by 2020, making them a cheaper proposition than even lead-acid batteries are today.