Yale Europe Materials Handling aims to offer customers working in intensive applications improved efficiency and reduced total cost of ownership as it announces its collaboration with Midac SpA to provide a range of lithium-ion power solutions for the EMEA market.

Yale to provide a range of lithium-ion power solutions for the EMEA market

This collaboration with a leading European supplier of batteries and chargers means that Yale® customers will now be able to benefit from the advantages of lithium-ion battery power.

“We are all now used to the benefits that lithium-ion power can deliver in terms of convenience for many day-to-day applications. When applied to lift trucks it translates into improvements in productivity, efficiency, and provides emission-free charging and a lower CO2 footprint,” said Mat Allen, Solutions Manager, Counterbalance Products at Yale. “We are delighted that Yale customers in EMEA can now start to realise these benefits for their truck fleets”.

The Yale lithium-ion solution will help customers deliver increased productivity and have better utilisation in multi-shift applications through eliminating the need for replacement batteries and battery change-overs. This will allow space for battery charging to be used for more productive purposes such as production or storage space.

Fast charging times and the absence of memory effect, which limits the amount of energy restored to the battery, allows opportunity charging to extend the operating range of the single lithium-ion battery. Lithium-ion batteries are virtually maintenance-free. Periodic topping up of the battery is not required. With higher power density, an increase in the number of lifetime charging cycles compared with lead acid batteries is possible, as much as 3750 cycles at 80% discharge vs 1200 with a lead acid battery. Lithium-ion batteries and chargers are inherently more energy efficient than lead acid batteries. Total cost of ownership can be reduced in appropriate applications, while annual energy cost savings of up to 30-40% are possible (subject to site survey).

Fully integrated with the trucks and managed via the truck battery discharge indicator, these batteries fit into existing truck battery compartments, available initially in 24V and 48V with an 80V introduction planned. Rapid opportunity charging allows continuous operation in applications where lead acid battery exchange is currently required. The truck lift lock-out functionality is activated when recharge is required to ensure this valuable asset is protected.