Lithium-ion technology wins Emons over

How do you make your intralogistics more economical, cleaner and more sustainable? For Emons Spedition GmbH, the answer was crystal clear – by switching from LPG forklifts to lithium-ion units in the general cargo warehouse in Großbeeren.

At 6 o’clock in the morning, between Berlin and Potsdam, Emons is already getting busy here at this early hour. One truck after another turns onto the haulage company’s premises, where goods from all over Germany are delivered and prepared for onward transport to the capital and the surrounding region of Brandenburg. “We work 24 hours a day, five and a half days a week, so that everything comes together as it should,” explains haulage manager Nätsch.

For this tightly scheduled haulage business to run smoothly, it goes without saying that a high-performance fleet of forklifts is absolutely essential. “The employees use them to unload the trailers, organise the goods in the hall and later load them onto the delivery trucks. In short, our equipment is in use practically around the clock.”

Employees in focus

For this challenging task, the medium-sized company recently turned to Linde forklift trucks with a payload of 1.6 to 2.0 tonnes, which were traditionally operated with LPG. When some of these trucks were due to be replaced, a lithium-ion unit from a manufacturer in the Far East was also tested. Forklift truck operator, Peter Weiss, explains that they realised it wasn’t going to work within a few days, “The vehicles were extremely imprecise in load handling. We have to work with centimetre precision to move goods from A to B in the tight spaces here, so that we don’t damage them.” His haulage manager adds, “The feedback from our people plays a big role for us. After all, they can only do a top job with top equipment.” It was this consistent focus on the needs of the workforce that ultimately lead Emons to lithium-ion units from Linde Material Handling.

“We had already got on very well with the dual-pedal control and the Linde Load Control, and we really wanted to make use of that again with the electric forklift trucks.” No wonder, then, that the test truck provided by the Linde contract partner, a Linde E18 Li-ION, met with approval right from the start.

Successful model(s)

For almost three years now, the Linde E16 to E20 with lithium-ion batteries have been whirring reliably and, thanks to the three-wheeled version, particularly agilely through the logistics hub at the Emons site in Brandenburg. Another combustion engine is to be replaced soon, leaving only one LPG unit on site as a back-up. “In the meantime, other Emons sites have followed our example and also converted to lithium-ion,” explains Michael Nätsch. The modern trucks each draw their drive power from a single 16.3 kWh lithium-ion battery. According to the haulage manager, “This medium-sized battery facilitates a basic operating time of eight hours and is optimally suited for our purposes.” The vehicles simply receive interim charging during breaks, so that the operators have enough operating and lifting power at their disposal at all times.

In terms of performance, the lithium-ion units are also in no way inferior to their combustion engine counterparts. Nätsch explains that, “With 2500 operating hours per year for each vehicle, we really place a high demand on the trucks. However, the units never complain.”

Three chargers are easily enough for our fleet, so there are always enough trucks ready for use. The switchover from changing gas cylinders to regular interim charging did not present a problem.

The changeover has proven to be a real success story for everyone involved, both in terms of operating efficiency and because at the end of the day – or rather, at the end of the busy working week at Emons – the cost of electricity is significantly less than for LPG. “Everything still runs like clockwork here with the Linde trucks. Only now, thanks to lithium-ion, it’s quieter, cleaner and more economical,” says the logistics expert with satisfaction. Sometimes it’s worth taking a chance on a ‘system change’, especially when you’re sure that everything will run even better afterwards!