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Designers: Ben Johnson, Greg Moffat, Rich Bell, Jason Hartnell, Abdel Otmani, and Gregg Gilliam, Yale Materials Handling Corporation, Greenville, North Carolina, United States
Manufacturer: Yale Materials Handling Corporation, Greenville, North Carolina, United States

The Yale® ERC120VH with Lithium-ion battery is a four-wheel counterbalanced cushion tire electric lift truck. It offers a unique option, with lithium-ion power available as an OEM option from the factory, not an aftermarket retrofit. In addition to the performance and charging benefits of lithium-ion power, the truck bypasses the hassle of implementing secondary systems, offering full functionality of the truck’s battery state-of-charge indicator, low battery warning system and shutdown warning system in the event of a battery fault. Also, rather than being locked into a single lithium-ion battery supplier, Yale customers can choose from one of three suppliers to get the best option for their operation.

Lithium-ion power has been available in the Yale MPB045VG walkie pallet truck for several years, but the availability of a counterbalance electric sit-down truck with a 12,000 lb. load capacity powered by lithium-ion batteries is a new breakthrough. This brings the performance and sustainability benefits of lithium-ion power to new applications, allowing them to leave behind the additional costs and maintenance associated with lead acid batteries.

-Supports 2- and 3-shift operations, helping increase productivity
-Charges approximately 20% faster and allows for opportunity charging
-Can be discharged to near 100% vs. lead acid at 80%
-Uses approximately 20% less energy while charging, reducing costs
-Eliminates battery watering, acid, spills, fumes, equalization and cleaning
-Minimizes labor/time required to change batteries
-Decreases costly battery replacements and maintenance
-Reduces need for charging rooms and added ventilation requirements
-Has overall longer battery life and helps lower cost of operations

The Yale® ERC120VH with Lithium-ion goes through the same demanding 15-day environment tests as internal combustion engine-powered trucks, handling everything from extreme temperatures to grades as high as 30%. It also incorporates ergonomic design elements to keep operators as productive as possible, offering maximum visibility, smooth, precise mast positioning, low-effort steering and easy-to-use controls.