Hyster announces product of the year honors for its onboard charging solution, with Plant Engineering magazine recognizing the solution with a bronze award in the electrical, power and lighting category. Available on several counterbalanced Hyster® forklifts with integrated lithium-ion battery power, the onboard charging solution allows trucks to be charged using standard, commonly available electrical outlets, rather than requiring dedicated higher-capacity charging infrastructure.

“Onboard charging helps address a major challenge that has prevented some operations from taking advantage of lithium-ion power,” says Josh Eby, Global Product Manager, Hyster. “The flexibility to simply plug into a common electrical outlet makes electric forklifts a stronger fit for a much broader range of applications, and this recognition by the readers of Plant Engineering further validates our approach to making electric forklifts more accessible.”

The onboard charging option is available on several Hyster lift trucks with lift capacities ranging from 4,000 to 8,000 pounds. This charging flexibility makes lithium-ion-powered forklifts a stronger fit for applications with intermittent charging availability, like agriculture and construction, or lower-hour applications that do not require fast charging, like retail and light manufacturing. It also enables businesses to rent electric forklifts without having to alter their electric infrastructure, and even enables recharging via generator when power is unreliable or unavailable.

This onboard charging option includes a charging cable with a 240-volt 50-amp connection, adaptors for both 240-volt 30-amp and 120-volt 12-amp plugs, and an out-of-the-way storage bin located to the left of the seat for all cables and adaptors. Depending on the forklift model, operators could expect to get about one hour of medium-duty usage from as little as a 40-minute 6kW (240-volt) charge or a two hour and 40-minute 1.4kW (120-volt) charge. The addition of the onboard charging option does not affect the ability for units to charge quickly via typical offboard chargers.