Evaluation on Total Cost of Ownership of Electric Forklifts with lithium-ion battery

Batteries, with support of governments and industry, have flourished in recent years, which appears to be one of the most promising power sources in the global transportation field. In addition to being widely used in passenger cars, batteries are also applied in off-road vehicles. Forklift is one of off-road vehicles and the proportion of electric forklift is increasing on the whole. Since the commonly used battery on forklifts is lead-acid battery, which brings great burden to the environment, it is necessary to seek for potential substitute for lead-acid battery. Benefiting from the maintenance-free nature and long lifetimes, forklift powered by lithium-ion battery is proposed in this paper. Total cost of ownership (TCO) is used to compare the economic competitiveness of forklifts powered by two different kinds of batteries. The data and conclusion in this paper may provide some references for consumers, vehicle manufactures and policymakers on electric forklifts.