Sites looking at electric forklifts tend to raise the infrastructure questions. Does the facility need major electrical upgrades, and is a battery room mandatory. The answers depend on your facility, and it is worth reviewing what needs to be checked.
Hyundai smart chargers can be configured to work with your facility’s existing electrical capacity. A site that parks machines overnight has different charging needs from an operation running continuous shifts, and the configuration changes accordingly.
In a recent installation in Western Australia, a charger was reconfigured on site to suit the available supply and completed full charge cycles. Whether your facility needs any electrical work is established through a supply check before electric forklift installation, which is a standard part of the process.
More detail on charger configuration and battery monitoring is in our battery and charger guide.
Lead acid batteries need a full discharge followed by a set charging and cooling cycle. Multi shift sites end up storing spare batteries, running an overhead crane and putting labour into swapping them over.
Lithium ion batteries charge inside the machine, and short top up charges during breaks or shift changes have little effect on battery life. With no battery swapping, no water top ups and no ventilation requirement, sites moving across from lead acid often find the battery room and wash bay free up for other use. Our comparison of lithium ion and lead acid covers the differences in more detail.
Floor loading and axle weight. Heavy electric forklifts put substantial weight through the front axle when loaded. That applies to warehouse slabs, ramps, dock plates and truck trays. Ask us for the axle load figures on the model you are considering, and work with your building manager or a structural engineer on whether your floor carries them. This is the same check whichever brand you end up buying.
Space and layout. Hyundai high voltage lithium forklifts have a minimum turning radius of 2,987 mm in the 4.0 to 5.5 tonne range and 3,620 mm in the 6.0 to 9.0 tonne range. Compare those figures against your current racking layout, and check doorway clearance with the mast lowered as well as maximum lift height indoors.
How the day runs. Shift times, break intervals and weekend running give us what we need to size battery capacity. Sites with regular breaks in the day have more options open to them.
Hyundai runs technical training for regional dealer service networks before larger high voltage models arrive. The recent Western Australian sessions were part of that programme, and training continues in other regions. Before a machine arrives, check that trained technicians are available in your area.
Connect the charger and confirm charging starts while the technician is still on site. If installation is only tested the following day, any issue costs you a day of operation.
Run operator handover training the same day. Left until later, operators have settled into their own habits and those are harder to correct.
You do not need the measurements before you talk to us. Tell us roughly what you run and where, and we will come out, take the site conditions and put together a configuration that fits. Get in touch with our team or your local Hyundai dealer.
The next article covers what changes in day to day maintenance once the machine is yours.
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