Lencrow Forklifts Logo

Lencrow Forklifts Blog

The latest tips and advice on forklifts, materials handling and industry efficiency.

Blog Header
Ross GrassickForklift Types

Forklift Fuel Types: Electric, Petrol, LPG, Diesel

Understanding Forklift Fuel Types: Electric, Petrol, LPG, Diesel

Why are there so many fuel options for forklifts?

Forklift’s feature a variety of different options; fuel type, capacity, lift height, mast options and the list goes on. The important thing to remember when you are in the market to purchase a forklift – there are experienced consultants who can help you make the best decision based on your business’ materials handling needs.

This guide will outline the different fuel types available, the purposes for each and their advantages for different applications. Understanding these fundamentals will assist in finding the right forklift for your business and materials handling needs.

Electric Forklifts

Forklift Battery

Electric powered forklifts are most commonly used for indoor materials handling and ideal for flat, concrete surfaces. The biggest advantage of a battery electric forklift is that it doesn’t burn fossil fuels that create harmful emissions. They are cost effective to run and don’t create noise pollution that can be harmful to operators and others in the immediate workplace.

New technologies being used by manufacturers today has improved in leaps and bound in the last few decades. Forklift batteries use deep cycle charge to suit longer hours of operation, typically covering an 8-9 hour shift. The outright cost for electric materials handling equipment can seem more expensive in comparison to other fuel options. However, it is important to note that the long term costs to maintain and charge a forklift make it the most cost effective fuel option.

LPG & Petrol Forklifts

Dual Fuel Engine Bay

LPG & Petrol powered forklifts, also known as internal combustion forklifts, are better suited to heavier handling and in outdoor areas. Current models utilise technology that is more fuel efficient than in ever before. LPG & Petrol powered units have lower emission rates than forklifts with diesel engines and produce less carbon monoxide. Internal combustion forklifts can be operated for long periods and can be conveniently refuelled when required unlike an electric that requires a charge cycle between uses.

LPG & Petrol powered forklifts are often available with dual fuel capabilities, which gives owners the option to use each fuel type in their forklift. LPG is the most common fuel option used because it can be easily sourced and quickly replaced. Gas cylinders are interchangeable and can be delivered to workplaces on a regular basis. If you don’t have access to onsite refuelling stations LPG may be the best fuel option for you. If you do purchase a forklift with dual fuel capabilities please ensure to inspect & service both fuel delivery systems with every service to maintain the engine and your forklifts performance.

Diesel Forklifts

Forklift Diesel Engine

The major advantage using diesel engines in materials handling is they generate more power. Diesel engines are used in larger forklifts and are most suited in outdoor, rough terrain and large handling applications. The long term costs involved in running diesel forklifts includes fuel and maintenance. Forklifts with diesel engines meet a comprehensive range of industrial applications with heavy handling requirements.

LPG, Petrol & Diesel

Forklifts that use fossil fuels can be used for indoor and container entry handling applications. It is recommended that if you use this type of forklift indoors the area is well ventilated. Ensure that operators and peers onsite are issued with the correct personal protection equipment that minimise risks associated with inhaling hazardous emissions and industrial noise that can affect hearing.

Regular forklifts servicing and daily inspections of fluid levels help reduce the ongoing maintenance costs of owning a forklift. Servicing as per manufacturers specification prevents damage to major components and improves the performance of your forklift over it’s lifetime.

Summary

Fuel options in forklifts offer industries a range of options to meet different materials handling applications & convenience for owners. Reputable forklift suppliers will assess your business’ handling and provide tailored solutions specific to your operational needs and application requirements.

Forklifts today are designed to meet a range of industrial & handling applications including cold storage, flame-proof, confined spaces, warehousing to name a few. There is a world of product possibilities and they can be fitted with features specific to your business’.

For fuss free forklift information specific to your business contact an experienced materials handling consultant who can guide you through your options to find a product solution.

Blog Header
Ross GrassickForklift Types

Different Types of Forklift and Their Common Use

To lift and move materials for small distances, a forklift is used, which is a powered industrial truck. A forklift is also known as a lift truck, a forklift truck or a fork truck. Let’s understand about the different types of forklifts and their common use.

Types of Forklift

The major forklift trucks are diesel powered forklift, LPG/petrol powered forklift and electric powered forklift. Let’s take a look at all types of forklifts and their use in brief.

Use of Diesel Powered Forklift

  • Diesel forklift trucks are one of the strongest workhorses in the material handling world. It perfectly fits a huge range of unit loads and made to endure the severities of outdoor work.
  • The capacity of diesel powered forklift range starts from 1000 Kg and up to 10,000 Kg.
  • Use of LPG/Petrol Powered Forklift

  • LPG forklifts provide excellent performance with low emissions and great fuel economy.
  • LPG/petrol powered forklifts can complete any type of material handling job right from transporting goods from one property site to another; loading goods vehicles to working in the warehouse racking etc.
  • The capacity of LPG/petrol powered forklift range starts from 1000 Kg and up to 7,000 Kg.
  • Use of Electric Powered Forklift

  • Electric forklifts provide you one of the most reliable, strong and comprehensive ranges, which are made to perform.
  • Electric forklifts are eco-friendly, resourceful and serene means of handling a broad range of unit loads including still ages, pallets and pallet boxes to render you a complete selection for any application.
  • The capacity of electric powered forklift range starts from 1000 Kg and up to 3,500 Kg.
  • Use of Pallet Jacks

  • A pallet jack also recognised as a pump truck, pallet pump or pallet truck is a device that is used for lifting and moving pallets.
  • Pallet jacks are the most basic type of forklift and are meant to move the light or heavy pallets inside a warehouse.
  • The capacity of pallet jacks/ electric pallet jacks range starts from 1000 Kg and up to 3,500Kg.
  • Use of Tow Tractors

  • All over the world, it’s commonly seen at the airlines, an array of tow tractors are most frequently used for moving the load and are also utilised in factory applications.
  • The capacity of tow tractors range starts from 2000 Kg and up to 10,000 Kg.
  • Use of Stackers

  • Stackers’ range of forklifts renders manoeuvrability, higher durability, low running costs and smooth top-end travel speed.
  • The capacity of stackers range starts from 1000 Kg and up to 2,000 Kg.
  • Use of Reach Trucks

  • Reach trucks are made in such a way that they can operate in a narrow passageway inside the warehouse area.
  • To allocate the load weight, they have two outer legs having a wheel configuration of one or two wheels per leg. Below the operator’s seating position, the drive wheel is positioned; while operating the machine, the driver sits sideways. A reach truck moves the load back inside the wheelbase while lifting a load, which means, less of the load isoverhanging from the reach truck, permitting the reach truck to operate in much narrower aisles.
  • The capacity of reach trucks starts from 1000 Kg and up to 3,000 Kg.
  • Use of Order Pickers

  • Order pickers render innate features and controls such as low step heights and padded platforms, ergonomic control handles, panoramic views to assist workers to do more work with less effort.
  • Order picking is a vital part inside of any warehouse. It comprises in so far as 45% of the operation costs in any distribution centre compared to receiving, storing and shipping stages and has a straight impact on customer contentment levels.
  • The capacity of order pickers range starts from 500 Kg and up to 2,000 Kg.
  • Use of Manual Handling Equipment

  • Manual handling equipment is crafted especially for those businesses that have smaller handling requirements.
  • This manual handling equipment is built strong, very dependable and safe to operate. It can be used by anyone after receiving appropriate training from the supervisor and no license is required for operating this manual handling equipment.
  • Manual handling equipment range consists of narrow aisle pallet truck, electric platform truck and electric truck with crane, electric puller as well as scissor lift table.
  • The capacity of manual handling range starts from 1000 Kg and up to 3,000 Kg.
  • Use of Rough Terrain Forklifts

  • A rough terrain forklift is a wheeled type of a forklift with a pivoted boom and/ or a vertical mast. The equipment has a fixed length or variable reach or which may be equipped with attachments.
  • This type of forklift is built for natural environments.
  • Rough terrain forklifts are appropriate for operations on the troubled terrain of construction projects and on the unscathed natural terrain. On construction sites, rough terrain forklifts manage all things from stacks of plywood and roof beams topallets of concrete block.
  • The capacity of rough terrain forklifts range starts from 2000 Kg and up to 25,000 Kg.
  • Use of Container Handler Fork Trucks

  • The container handler fork trucks are very useful for moving containers to and from commercial trucks.
  • The Terex range of container handlers and reach stackers render material handling capacities up to 50,000 Kg. This type of container handlers and heavy forklifts can only perform such type of huge handling tasks.
  • The capacity of container handler fork trucks range starts from 10,000 Kg and up to 52,000 Kg.
  • Use of Telehandler

  • Telehandlers are intended and made to fulfil the requirements of numerous construction and building sector applications.
  • Incredible design and refined features intermingle to render the telehandlers the finest versatile visibility, which aids to take the lead in the lift and reach capability.
  • Dieci’s telehandlers render top performance, strong construction for consistency and robustness with low operating costs.
  • The capacity of telehandlers range starts from 2,500 Kg and up to 21,000 Kg.
  • Blog Header
    Ross GrassickForklift Types

    Walkie Stacker Types, Application & Advantages

    A walkie stacker is also known as a pedestrian walk-behind stacker. It is a walk behind pallet truck with an attached mast for lifting pallets to heights. Walkie stackers come in diverse types for varied applications. So, let’s understand the different types of walkie stackers and their applications.

    Walkie stackers are available in two main versions and they are manual and electric-powered. Where forklifts are not required, walkie stackers can be used for transporting and lifting pallets – for instance, in small warehouses, storerooms and in specialised warehousing sections. Walkie stackers are ideal for small capacity items that are transported around a warehouse for less than five hours each day. It is recommended that they should be used only on concreted flat floors and as they have small wheels, they are more suitable for indoor use; however, they can be ordered from the factory with special requirements like bigger wheels.


    Types Of Walkie Stacker & Their Use :

    The major distinctive feature between different walkie stackers is how they distribute their load with either straddle legs, counter balance weight or front legs.

    1. Standard Walkie Stacker

    Standard walkie stackers make use of legs that sit below the forks to assign load weight. This also facilitates them to lift and manage two pallets at the same time, which makes them perfect for applications that need both stacking of pallets and transportation. As compared to the other types of walkie stackers, standard walkie stacker provides the smallest turning circle. However, standard walkie stackers are able to lift only bottomless pallets or bottomless containers – this is because their legs sit below the forks. They are specifically made for mid-level racking applications and their minimum lifting heights commence from 1,845mm.

    2. Ride on Walkie Stacker

    Ride on walkie stackers is identical to standard walkie stackers in design; however, they have a platform and special controls to facilitate operators to ride on the walkie stacker. To operate a ride on walkie stackers, the driver needs a forklift license whereas walk behind units does not need any license. Minimum lifting heights commence from 2000mm and can extend up to 6110mm. To get more information regarding this type, you may also refer #1 (above) Standard walkie stackers.

    3. Walkie Straddle Stacker

    Walkie straddle stackers are the most popular type of walkie stacker to be seen here, in Australia. To allocate load weight, they make use of straddle legs. The legs facilitate walkie stackers to straddle a pallet so that the stacker can go up nearer to a pallet without needing much space. They are usually used for low to mid-level chosen racking applications like customer zone racking areas, small warehouses and storerooms. When floor stacking is employed, the straddle legs also facilitate closer pallet stacking. Racking should be set up in a way that can facilitate the straddled legs to steer around or below the racking bottom beam supports. Minimum lifting heights commence from 3300mm and can extend up to 5000mm.

    4. Walkie Reach Stacker

    After walkie straddle stackers, walkie reach stackers are widely used here, in Australia. They have an identical design that matches to straddle stacker; however, they are equipped with a pantographic scissor mast. That means the mast is able to manoeuvre loads forward, away from the stacker’s body. They are most frequently used in applications such as loading trucks, utility vehicles and trailers. Just like straddle stackers, they can also be used for general mid-level racking applications. Minimum lifting heights commence from 2000mm and can extend up to 6460mm.

    5. Counter Balance Walkie Stacker

    Counter balance walkie stackers use counter balance weight to allocate loads. This facilitates them to operate in narrow aisles than the more widely used straddle stacker as they do not have straddling legs outside of the unit’s body. Different from standard walkie stackers (with front legs) counter balance walkie stackers can lift standard pallets. Due to the counter balance weight, counter balance walkie stackers have the longest total length, which necessitates a bigger turning circle when compared to other types of stackers. The counter-balance walkie stacker has a different type of lifting mast and their minimum lifting heights commence from 2000mm and can extend up to 6000mm.

    Manual Walkie Stackers

    Manual walkie stackers are not recommended for handling pallets in racking as they have very restricted lifting heights and operate very slowly. Thus, they are only suggested for general lifting with very low volume of load.

    Walkie Stackers’ Major Advantages

  • One of the major advantages is it does not release smokes or exhaust pollution and makes no noise, which makes them perfect for indoor material handling.
  • Thanks to their smaller size, operators have better visibility when handling loads.
  • Walkie reach stackers are perfect for handling pallets in storerooms and in specialised warehousing sections like customer assigned storage spaces.
  • They are highly manoeuvrable so they are able to work in compact spaces and can aid in expanding warehouse capacity.
  • When compared to Diesel and LPG/Petrol forklifts, electric-powered equipment has lower operating costs on an ongoing basis.
  • Unless walkie stackers are a ride on, operators do not need a forklift license to operate. Nevertheless, operators should be aware of safety practices and all the controls as well as acquire permission from their company to operate it.
  • They generate lesser carbon emissions because they require lower energy.
  • When compared to other materials handling equipment, walkie stackers have the lowest upfront cost.