Lift Truck Tips: The powerful impact of battery management

Lift truck users are working to get a better handle on energy costs and the right mix of equipment in the pursuit of improved efficiency. Fleet management solutions and practices have helped control costs by collecting metrics on each lift truck and each operator, but many have yet to address one key component.

“Ten years ago, most fleet owners didn’t know where the lift trucks were or how each of them was cared for,” says Jim Gaskell, director of Global Insite Products for Crown Equipment. “What’s still being overlooked is the battery itself. We’re now seeing a push for visibility into the battery so it can be managed as its own asset.”

Traditionally, battery replacement schedules might have been based simply on the age of the batteries, Gaskell says, or a salesperson might convince a customer to entirely replace the battery inventory. “It was based on virtually no data,” he says. “You can’t optimize maintenance costs and operator costs if you have battery abuse that results in downtime.”

Some battery management solutions focus on monitoring the batteries while they’re plugged in, ensuring proper charging and cooling cycles. Gaskell says a better way to manage batteries is to look beyond the limited data checkpoints of the battery room and instead collect real-time information about the battery as it’s used.

“When you measure battery status on the floor, you can see its health, water levels, temperatures and which operator did or didn’t properly charge it,” Gaskell says. “Since the system is tracking each battery, you can very quickly inform operators and management to optimize that equipment.”

For a given user of 100 batteries, if the system identifies that 30 of them are nearing the ends of their lives, the user can plan for targeted replacement. “You will know that a specific battery, independent of what lift truck or user it’s paired with, only lasts two to three hours per charge,” Gaskell says. “Alternatively, you might learn an operator is bulldozing, or pushing several pallets on the floor, which puts tremendous strain on the battery.”

An operator can do a lot of things to impact battery health, Gaskell says, and it’s best to identify and address any issues quickly before they become much bigger problems. As lead-acid battery costs have skyrocketed, there’s incentive to extend their lifespan, reduce inventory and consider alternatives like lithium-ion.

“Whatever solutions customers use, the technology to monitor a battery will continue to be essential going forward,” adds Gaskell. “Whether lithium-ion or lead-acid, the ability to track each asset is important for the future.”

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