Lift truck suppliers unload on China and charging trends

The results of ITA's business trends survey were reported and analyzed at the organization's fall meeting in Banff this week. Here are the highlights for end users.

By Tom Andel, Editor in chief -- Modern Materials Handling, 9/14/2007

Lift truck suppliers have some strong opinions on business trends affecting their industry and those of their customers. Those opinions were analyzed at this week’s fall meeting of the Industrial Truck Association, held in Banff, Canada. Dick Davidson, president of Thombert, Inc., Newton, Iowa, co-presented with ITA colleagues the results of ITA’s annual business trends survey.

Here are some of the highlights:

China
ITA looked at the likelihood of U.S. lift trucks being exported to China as well as the opportunity to partner with Chinese lift truck manufacturers to produce trucks in China.

“There are high expectations that U.S. manufacturers will partner with Chinese manufacturers to produce lift trucks in China,” Davidson reported. “Chances are also good that U.S. OEMs will not only seek part suppliers in China, but that they’ll build trucks in China for that market.”

As for the impact of Chinese-made lift trucks on the U.S. market, feelings are mixed, depending on the class of lift truck. For Classes 1 and 2 (electric motor rider and narrow-aisle) there’s been a decrease in expectation of a significant impact in the next five years. Class 4 (internal combustion engine, cushion-tire) shows an increased expectation of impact and Classes 3 (pallet trucks) and 5 (internal combustion engine, pneumatic-tire) show a continued expectation of fairly high impact.  

Jim Malvaso, president and CEO of Raymond Corp. and ITA president, later commented to Modern that while there are good opportunities for cooperation between the ITA and the China Industrial Truck Association (CITA), there are distinct differences between the two markets.

“We still have a regional marketplace because of the service requirements of a lift truck,” Malvaso said. “I’m confident the major manufacturers in the U.S. are in alignment with their distributors. That said, China has 1.2 billion people and they produced and shipped about 110,000 lift trucks last year. In the U.S. we have 300 million people. We have sophisticated logistics systems because our needs mandate it. China will be challenged to meet its own demand.”

Fuel cells
ITA members believe there’s a high likelihood that fuel-cell-equipped lift trucks (Classes 1, 2, and 3) will be commercially available in the U.S. by 2012. They’re not so convinced that hybrid lift trucks in Classes 4 and 5 will be readily available by then, however (maybe a 50/50 chance).

Battery charging
The respondents seem to think there will be an international standard for fast charging in five years. The thinking is that fast charging will be used by fewer than half of trucks by 2012. At the same time there’s a sentiment that opportunity charging will garner a more significant share of the market in five years.  

Aurelio Carinci, director of sales for GNB Industrial Power, division of Exide Technologies, said although it looks like fuel cells will make an appearance on the market in the next few years, he doesn’t see them gaining significant marketshare.

“Today they’re four to five times the cost of industrial batteries,” he noted. “There are great strides being made to educate the user, and that’s what will make the technology take off. It will be very effective in Class 1 and 2 vehicles as costs come down. I’m not surprised to see the results for the hybrid vehicles for Class 4 and 5. The IC engines are very near the automotive industry’s performance.”

He further reported that opportunity charging will eventually represent approximately 21 to 24% of the total market while fast charging will represent 12 to 13%.