Carer KR55H2-Short

Do you ship your products by railcar or container? Do you face the same issues as those who transport freight? Railcars and/or containers are frequently loaded and unloaded using high lift capacity LPG or diesel-powered forklifts with a short wheelbase and small turning radius, as well as a low overall machine height. Carer Electric Forklifts have revolutionized the railcar and shipping container loading industry.

The development of electric forklifts for these applications was difficult given that the pulp bale handling and paper roll shipping industries generally operate lengthy hours of daily usage, across multiple shifts, and utilize big energy consumption clamp attachments.

A range of forklifts for warehouses and storage facilities is required to access space-constrained, restricted settings, such as railway cars and shipping containers. They need a small-footprint forklift that can get into containers with limited clearance. These high utilization multishift applications, especially those employing clamps that consume a significant amount of energy to operate, favor large lift capacity forklifts with the bulk of them having between a 10,000lbs and a 15,000lbs capacity range. The excessive use of these forklifts require more fuel use, resulting in greater heat production as well as, exhaust and noise for operators who are forced to deal with it day after day.

Manufacturers have always struggled to develop a solution that would overcome these application difficulties, even though forklifts fueled by internal combustion (IC) have been loading and unloading railcars and seaborne containers for decades. After all, how could a propane forklift manage heat, noise, and exhaust in such tight spaces while keeping up with the demands of such confined environments?

It would then seem, the ideal solution for these types of environments would be an electric one. However, historically electric forklifts were not a viable solution in these applications. The first problem was that the forklift's efficiency and battery output could not keep up with the energy consumption needs. Second, businesses that require high daily usage would be unwilling to invest in a system where the forklift operator must change lead acid batteries throughout the day because penalties for delaying rail car movement would be costly. Third, because the required size of the lead acid batteries made the forklift too big to fit into these confined spaces.

For a rail car and container shipping business, where the battery power system may keep up with the high usage, multiple shift, and energy consumption requirements without requiring battery replacement, we needed to provide an electric forklift solution.

Carer Electric Forklifts developed and introduced the KR55H2-Short, a short version of Carer's existing KR55H2, to specifically confront the ongoing pain issues faced by these industries.

Carer Electric Forklifts, located in the auto hub region of Italy outside Bologna, has been manufacturing only electric high lift capacity forklifts since 1976. The main headquarters for Distribution for Carer in North America are in Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Carer's engineers have been assigned with the continuous creation of new electric forklifts. Within these confined specifications, the designers have achieved this objective, allowing firms using LPG and diesel forklifts in the rail car and container loading sectors to save a considerable amount of money while also eliminating harmful exposure to carbon emissions.

The Carer K55H2-Short Electric Forklift is quiet and powerful. It has a smaller footprint, comparable or greater power output, can run in all-weather conditions, is designed for multiple shift operation up to 6500 hours per year, saves money on fuel, maintenance, and eliminates carbon emissions and producing almost no sound or vibration.

The Carer KR55H2-SHORT is a variant of the Carer platform that was designed for short-turn applications such as container lifts or railcar access. The KR55H2-SHORT has a lowered overhead protection and is built specially to reach containers and railcars with a limited turning radius (STR). The high voltage operating system was designed with energy consumption in mind. Furthermore, they include lithium batteries for longer-term operational usage. They don't require additional batteries and have the ability to run completely on their own power.

The lithium battery power system eliminates the need to replace batteries. We've been able to connect a high-performance charger for the battery, which can handle the large energy demands of loading and clamping over numerous shifts and provides up to 6500 hours per year of service. The lithium batteries are maintenance-free, require no attention, require no additional water, and may operate for longer than the forklift's useful life without requiring replacement. The batteries have all necessary safety approvals for industrial usage and may be recycled at the end of their existence.

The Carer KR55H2-SHORT offers a rapid return on investment (ROI) for most rail car and container loading applications. For the majority of financial executives, the economic justification for the premium on capital acquisition is straightforward. However, due to constraints in availability and cost effectiveness, measurables for an internal combustion truck to electric conversion typically just assess energy savings (fuel). In reality, a more realistic ROI would include the following factors:

Total current monthly operating cost analysis (for diesel forklifts) includes:

• Capital costs (extended depreciation and internal cost of funds)
• All repairs and maintenance costs
• Intangible costs (emergency rentals, freight, down time, administration, etc.)
• Energy (diesel) consumption cost (today and forecasted future costs)
• Costs associated with unproductive labor (fuel tank refilling)
• Tire replacement

Total forecast monthly operating costs (for electric forklifts) include:

• Reduced utilization through elimination standby idle time
• Capital costs (extended depreciation term and internal cost of funds)
• Reduced repairs and maintenance costs
• Reduced intangible costs
• Energy (electricity) consumption costs
• Costs associated with unproductive labor – limited battery maintenance
• Reduced tire replacement costs

In a nutshell, eliminating barriers while lowering expenses is crucial in any sector, especially those that rely on railcar and shipping to get their goods from place to place. Developing new and unique answers is what we do at Carer Electric Forklifts, and the Carer KR55H2-Short is an excellent illustration of that.