Depending on their carrying capacity, all-electric forklifts are equipped with an electric traction battery.
The substantial difference between the different batteries is given by their size and capacity.
For this reason, we can find forklift batteries with different amperages and different voltages.
There are traction batteries of 12, 24, 36, 40, 48, 72, or 80 Volt, with amperages ranging from 290 to 960 Ah.
The Volts of a battery are easily verifiable by counting the number of elements that make up the same battery: if it is composed of 6 cells, it is a 12 Volt battery, if it is composed of 24 elements it is a 48 Volt battery, if inside of the body there are 40 elements it is an 80 Volt battery.
Voltage is a unit of measurement that indicates the voltage or electrostatic force of an electric field.
Amperage is a unit of measurement that allows us to understand intensity (therefore measured in amperes) or the amount of current flowing between the two poles. So when we talk about Ampere-hour (Ah) we want to indicate the unit of measurement of the energy storage capacity of a battery.
This value can be obtained by multiplying the current, in amperes, by the discharge time in hours. For example, a battery that delivers 62 amps for 10 hours = 620 Ah of capacity.
Often these lead batteries are also equipped with automatic topping up which consists of a small system with plastic pipes. These tubes connect special caps, equipped with special floats, and replace the normal caps placed on the battery cells.
Through this system, the topping up of distilled water is much faster and easier.
So the forklift driver only has to connect the single quick connector on the system to the corresponding connector of the “bottle” of distilled water.
In this way, the water fills all the elements of the battery that need to be topped up with the right amount, thanks to the floats that interrupt the flow when the element is full.
This is an excellent system to maintain, over time, the efficiency and effectiveness of the lead battery and to avoid damage to it.