Batteries for Ariel Lifts and Industrial Pick and Carry Cranes (Cherry Pickers)

Batteries for Ariel Lifts and  (Cherry Pickers)

I decided to do an article about this type of industrial equipment, because (A) I know nothing about them apart from you see them working on building sites, lifting men and equipment up and down. (B) I am a Trojan battery dealer for Yorkshire UK and therefore should know about these machines.

Another reason that I am interested in, is the growing change over to Lithium-Ion battery technology and the

Cherry Picker in action

affect that it will have on the years old lead acid battery industry, including the field of lifting equipment. I discovered that this was going to be a good time to do this because some manufacturers of this equipment were in fact starting to use Lithium-ion battery systems onto their new equipment. At the same time as Trojan and US Batteries were also improving their own deep cycle battery products.

Ariel lifts and pick and carry cranes also operate on semi-traction and full-traction batteries, which are of course the same lead acid batteries that we have been using for almost 100 years. This I one of the reasons that I wanted to delve into the technology aspect of this industry, because there has been huge advances in battery development in other industries, mainly as I have stated the Lithium-Ion (li-On) battery technology that has come on in leaps and bounds over the past five years.

The introduction on the Li-On battery will have a major impact on the 150,000 scissor lifts across Europe, never mind the companies such as Trojan batteries, who will probably have to make radical changes, although I cannot believe that manufacturing the new technologies will not be on their minds. The market is also seen a rise in the use of improved GEL battery products as well as LI-On batteries.

The change in battery types is not expected to change radically over the next fifteen years, mainly because things have improved with the introduction of new motor controls and electric circuitry that help to prolong the batteries life span. A big leap forward the machine development over the past two years has been the introduction of the direct electric AC drive motors. These are now used by most of the manufacturing companies such as Snorkel, Skyjack and Upright, using this technology that helps extend the life of the batteries.

Lithium-Ion batteries not yet cost effective

As I have previously stated the machine manufacturers are reluctant to try out new batteries such as Li-On batteries because of the extra cost that would be involved in an upgrade. However a machine manufacturer has started to use Li-on batteries, these are Hinowa – Goldlift tracked machine.

Hinowa were started in 1987 and started to build machines for the building industry. The company set out making tracked vehicles for different industries including construction and agriculture. Hinowa sell primarily to the European market, with 80% of their sales being in this market. The company has its base in the province of Verona in Italy and it was from here that they designed and made a tracked lift that was battery operated.

Trojan battery

The problem that was associated with tracked vehicles was that the tracks created a drag and the machines were only a narrow size and so it was difficult to build a suitable battery pack that would work. However enter the Li-On battery? These type of batteries suit this type of machine very, without me going into technical jargon you should read the follow description from the Hinowa web site… http://www.hinowa.com/scheda.asp?idprod=527&idpadrerif=18&selflang=en

I think that it will be closer than some experts think before Li-On batteries are used in more applications, including these “Cherry picker” machines.

One company that is still relying on the older technology Trojan batteries have indeed brought out a new GEL battery. This new GEL battery is heavy duty deep cell battery giving 210 amps per hour. The new battery contains a new GEL electrolyte sulphuric acid, silica and uses pure de-mineralised water, de-ionised water and phosphoric acid which Trojan say gives the battery a more consistent performance and also gives the battery a longer life.

For more information about this battery please see…http://www.trojanbattery.com/products/deep-cycle-gel/ 

Eric Roberts

Hi I would like to introduce myself. I have worked in the Garage and tyre and I am MD for online battery company www.batteriesontheweb.co.uk. I have worked for a couple for national tyre companies in my younger days, before starting my first business. I now own a garage and MOT testing centre, here in the UK called Pellon Tyre and Auto-centre, and I am a keen blogger about anything to do with cars and their related products that will help my business. We are members of Point-S and Motor-Codes and are also a Unipart Car Care Centre and of course Tyre-safe.