INNOVATION IN THE WORLD OF MATERIAL HANDLING: LITHIUM BATTERIES IN THE INDUSTRIAL MARKET

Lithium batteries as a power source for electric forklift trucks: Kaitek Flash Battery and Piazzalunga together at the first special workshop on lithium.

Coordinated by Marco Righi, the Founder of Kaitek Flash Battery and Flash Battery, the first workshop on lithium batteries for the industrial sector was held at the headquarters of Piazzalunga.

Piazzalunga is active in the materials handling sector. The company handles the sales, assistance, and rental of forklift trucks and cleaning machinery.

The goal of Piazzalunga is to meet its customers’ needs, ever since it was founded. Now, with lithium, the company can meet demands it could not meet before.

“In 2015, we started experimenting with lithium batteries. Initially, we worked with a partner that was not sufficiently structured to respond to market demands. But with Kaitek, we’ve enjoyed their lengthy experience with lithium batteries in the industrial sector, combined with their great professionalism. That’s one of the reasons why we asked Marco Righi to speak at this event”, explained Luana Piazzalunga.

During the workshop, problems were examined that are related to the use of traditional lead-acid batteries, a source of dissatisfaction for many users. These problems include long charging times (8-10 hours to completely charge) and the inability to use the batteries when only partially charged.

Another critical issue is high maintenance costs.

Over the life of a lead-acid battery, maintenance costs may actually exceed the cost of the battery itself. They include:

• the cost of topping up the water
• the cost of removing acid and oxide built-up
• the cost of water demineralisation systems
• the cost of ventilation systems in the charging area
• the cost of the space necessary for the charging area

These costs are not often taken into consideration, thus making lead-acid technology appear cheaper.

Actually, if all these factors are considered, lithium on balance is economically favourable, besides offering major benefits in terms of performance and production efficiency.

We at Kaitek Flash Battery ® are grateful to Piazzalunga for giving us the opportunity to show how our lithium technology can overcome the limitations of traditional batteries.