The two main options for powering forklifts are electric — powered solely by an on-board forklift battery — or internal combustion (IC), which use a traditional engine that runs on one of several types of fuel.

Electric Forklifts

Electric forklifts are powered by large, heavy forklift batteries.  A forklift battery is typically provide enough power for one standard eight-hour shift, which translates into 5 or 6 hours of constant usage.

There are two primary advantages to electric-powered forklifts. One is that they produce zero emissions — if you are going to be using your lift indoors or in sensitive environments, this is a very important consideration.  The other primary advantage of electric forklifts is fuel cost. Electric forklifts have a lower cost per hour of operation than any of the internal combustion models.

Additional advantages of electric forklifts include their quieter operation — a big plus indoors — and no fuel storage requirements.

The biggest downside of electric forklifts is the battery downtime. Charging a forklift battery takes 8 hours, plus 8 hours of cooling time before it can be used. Due to this slow charging speed, if you need your forklift for two or three shift operations, you will have to buy extra forklift batteries so you can always be charging the next one.  Electric forklifts are also not generally suited for outdoor use as they can’t be used in rain.

Internal combustion (IC) forklifts

Internal combustion engines run on a variety of fuels: petrol, diesel, LPG, or compressed natural gas (CNG). The main benefit of IC forklifts is their ability to be refueled on the run: simply fill up the fuel tank or load a new LPG canister on and your forklift is ready to continue working in no time.

Only IC forklifts are capable of handling large loads.