Elec-truck avenueElec-truck avenue

Increasing numbers of automotive electrical systems promise greater functionality and energy savings. Such technologies are seeing wider use, as on forklifts.

SKF (Kulpsville, PA) is demonstrating them in the E-Truck, an all-electric forklift concept vehicle. Key components are: electric actuators which lift, tilt, and shift the mast and forks; the mast-height controller that uses sensor (encoder) bearings to provide position, velocity, and acceleration feedback; and a steer-by-wire system for variable control, safety, and ergonomic (room for the operator) benefits. Electric traction-motor wheels provide propulsion and regenerative braking, and eliminate the gearbox.

Although most lift trucks are used in and at plants, sometimes they need to travel on roads between them, which poses a problem. Susan Langer, SKF's global program manager for industrial vehicle systems, notes that while steer-by-wire vehicles are not allowed yet on highways without a hydraulic or mechanical steering linkage for safety, "The standards are being reviewed and eventually will be rewritten. Such systems will probably be approved at first for speed-limited vehicles," such as lift trucks.

While the cost of electronic components, especially those that perform lift functions, for an all-electric truck are higher today, Langer notes overall cost could be competitive. "If you look at the total cost including maintenance, potential hydraulic environmental cleanup, parts count, and assembly, such a truck will be cost competitive in production, with additional features possible," she says. As for when an all-electric lift truck might be commercially available, Langer concludes it is mostly a case of the market climbing on board since the technology is here today.

For more information about electronic control components from SKF, www.skf.com/industrial-vehicles: Enter 546