The lithium-ion battery forklift trucks from Toyota Material Handling Europe (TMHE) bring customers real benefits to multi-shift and heavy-duty factory and warehouse applications
After exhibiting its first lithium-ion prototype at CeMAT 2011, TMHE has been conducting extensive field trials with its lithium-ion forklifts in multi-shift customer operations in different countries. These confirmed the quality of the product, and demonstrated its durability and the real business benefits that can be achieved in real life applications.

TMHE’s offer on lithium-ion forklifts includes the BT Optio OSE250 and BT Levio LWE200, LPE200 and LPE240 models. These lithium-ion powered forklift trucks run longer on less energy and lower cost. They offer multi-shift users considerable advantages over conventional lead acid battery-powered trucks in terms of productivity, cost efficiency and CO₂emission reduction.

Factories and warehouses that operate with their trucks on more than one shift commonly require battery change with conventional lead acid batteries. These multi-shift and heavy-duty users face the additional investment in extra batteries to run their shifts and have to accommodate non-operational time in their workday linked to the time needed to exchange the discharged battery and reload the truck with a charged battery.

To date, TMHE is the first forklift supplier to offer a broad range of lithium-ion forklifts, a perfect solution to eliminating the need for extra batteries and battery change; only one lithium-ion battery is needed for multi-shift and heavy duty users.
The lithium-ion battery only takes 1 hour for a full recharge, which can be spread across the working day, using natural pauses such as breaks or lunch times.

With its intelligent design features, the Toyota lithium-ion range also consumes less energy in operational use, reducing electrical energy consumption and costs by a significant 30%, which also means less CO₂emissions and a reduced environmental imprint.
The lithium-ion batteries on TMHE’s forklifts also support prolonged durability when used. Compared to conventional lead acid batteries, they typically have three times the lifespan, ensuring improved value for money over time.

“We offer lithium-ion powered forklifts to our customers to directly support improvements in their operational efficiency and lowering their costs and CO₂emissions,” says Craig Walby, Director Product Management at Toyota Material Handling Europe. “We are particularly addressing multi-shift users who will be the early adopters and the ones who will also draw the largest business benefits.”