Jungheinrich is extending it leadership and innovation by introducing the first lithium-ion batteries in the 48 Volt range with 360 and 480 ampere hours. This completely maintenance-free, high availability technology can now also be applied to reach trucks and counterbalance forklifts.
“Jungheinrich was the first company to implement and continually refine lithium-ion technology for mass-produced industrial trucks and has continued to build world-leading expertise in transport applications for lithium-ion batteries. This competence has been led by our new, 200 person strong Energy and Drive Systems division near our global headquarters in Hamburg, Germany,” said Jan Lorenz, Managing Director of Jungheinrich UK Limited.
Jungheinrich’s continued innovation is delivering fast recharging times, zero maintenance and a long battery life. This enables permanent fleet operation of up to 24 hours, seven days a week without requiring a battery change. After just 40 minutes of charging time the Jungheinrich high-performance energy cells with 360 Ah achieve 50% of their capacity and after just 80 minutes the battery achieves its full charge.
By eliminating battery changes, total cost of ownership is significantly reduced and safety goes up for the fleet operator. Jungheinrich’s innovative new Li-ion battery removes the expense of buying a second battery, the cost of battery changing equipment, special charging stations and the time required to perform the battery change. This in turn, reduces workplace accidents during battery changes and eliminates all the traditional maintenance activities attached to lead-acid systems.
Using state-of-the-art lithium-ion technology Jungheinrich has developed a completely maintenance-free battery which delivers an impressive life expectancy of up to 3,000 full cycles and a considerably higher number of partial cycles. By comparison, the average life of lead-acid batteries is limited to 900 to 1,200 cycles.
To guarantee maximum efficiency, safety and convenience in day-to-day operations, the battery, charging device and vehicle have been developed together, and the battery is permanently monitored by an innovative, integrated battery management system. The resulting high voltage stability of these lithium-ion batteries translates into improved performance over the entire operating cycle. Additionally, higher currents can be recovered (recuperation), making the industrial trucks up to 20% more energy efficient while yielding higher throughput. This improved energy efficiency translates directly into the battery requiring less primary energy (mains power). “This means that our lithium-ion solution guarantees completely worry-free operation, it protects our environment through an industry leading CO2 footprint, and it is easy to handle and manage.” says Craig Johnson, Marketing Manager of Jungheinrich UK Ltd.
Lithium-ion batteries are free from the operating limitations caused by escaping gases or acid caused by conventional lead-acid batteries. As a result, vehicles with lithium-ion batteries can be used across many more sectors and regions, including the food industry, even at temperatures ranging from -20 to 55° C.