Linde Material Handling, one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of forklift trucks, has extended it’s range of lithium-ion powered counterbalance trucks up to eight tonnes lifting capacity.

All capacities of Linde’s electric counterbalanced truck range are now available with lithium-ion batteries, giving customers the choice of lead-acid or lithium-ion batteries for these popular models as well as the majority of the company’s warehouse equipment products.

All the models in this new series comprisiong 6.0, 7.0 and 8.0t at 600mm load centre and 8.0t at 900mm load center can be equipped with powerful 90-volt lithium-ion batteries with up to120 kWh capacity.

Chargers of 9 kW, 17 kW and 30 kW output are also available to charge the batteries. The selection of charger size is determined by how quickly energy needs to be restored to the battery during its opportunity charging periods.

These heavy-duty trucks with lithium-ion batteries can reach speeds of 20 km/h with or without load providing similar performance to engine power machines. They work satisfactorily in a range of temperatures, making them suitable for external or internal operation anywhere in the UK and throughout the year.

Lithium-ion technology eliminates the need for battery changing which is a major benefits with trucks of this capacity where the battery will weigh nearly 3 tonnes.

The trucks also generate lower levels of CO2 than IC engine forklifts and no harmful battery gases are produced during the charging process as is the case with lead acid batteries.

Björn Walter, product manager counterbalanced trucks at Linde Material Handling, said:

“Very few manufacturers offer electric forklifts in this load category so we are therefore proud to provide a complete solution consisting of a lithium-ion battery plus a charger for these heavy-duty vehicles.

“The benefits of lithium-ion technology, such as longer truck availability, no battery changes, and faster driving speeds are useful assets for our customers.

“At Linde, we recognise the huge growth potential of lithium-ion power which is why we have extended the range of counterbalance trucks available with this type of battery.”