Eileen Mozinski Schmidt Battery Technology is Expanding and Evolving
Powering equipment is a key component of any material handling organization, and batteries’ role in the industry continues to evolve.
At Flux Power, Jeff Mason said electric forklift sales continue to grow about 10 percent annually. ” We’re seeing a big growth in the electric forklifts and equipment,” said Mason, vice president of operations at Flux Power.
“We play a pivotal role by being a lithium battery supplier,” said Mason, adding that the company can provide battery power to a range of electric material handling equipment, like electric pallet jacks, forklifts, and more. ” We also have batteries that go into small AGVs and other robotic equipment,” he said.
” That market is growing rapidly as people are looking toward automation.” According to Mason, the automation trend and associated battery power for electric equipment will likely continue to grow due to labor challenges.
He noted that labor needs are evolving, and as technology advances, workers with technical training are pivotal.
“What we manufacture is a technical product. Every battery has a small computer on board,” said Mason, who noted Flux Power offers package telemetry with its products, allowing for a lot of insight into battery data.
“We can now monitor energy usage and safety,” he said. “We read our battery management system for our batteries and report it to the Cloud. ” More customers are focused on monitoring things like their carbon reduction footprint,” said Mason, who said the need by customers to glean such information fits with Flux Power’s approach of being an “energy solutions partner.”
According to Mason, Flux Power is working on a new version of its Sky EMS this year, a telemetry program that will integrate AI to provide predictable and preventative maintenance.
What has remained consistent in the industry is the ROI model when it comes to investing in battery power. For businesses running one shift a day, lead acid battery power likely still makes sense, Mason said. Smaller mom-and-pop style operations “will do just fine on lead acid,” he said. “Unless they are looking for green solutions.”
Flux Power’s battery customers typically operate 24/7, according to Mason. “Although we do have some smaller manufacturers running two shifts that see the value in it,” he added. As to charging technology, Mason said wireless charging is slowly growing. He said that it plays an especially useful role in autonomous vehicles. Overall, the opportunity charging lithium offers is a value for companies, according to Mason.
As a company, Flux Power has built a stronghold in the airport industry as ground support equipment is moving toward electric options, Mason said. “It’s an opportunity for us to be a leader in providing technical education,” he said.
Mason said Flux Power constantly evaluates new chemistries available in the industry and stressed that the business has never lost a keystone customer. ’We really value partnership,” he said.
According to Robin Schneider, director of marketing, another battery provider, Green Cubes, has surpassed supplying 10,000 batteries in the material handling market. “That represents 300 megawatt hours,” she said.
Schneider said that while “things are humming along in traditional electric forklift space,” one of the exciting developments at Green Cubes is the venture into adjacent spaces, like ARMs and AGVs.
Schneider said making industry-wide predictions is difficult in the post-Covid space. “There are a lot of factors that are introducing uncertainty,” she said.
Schneider noted that truck lead times in 2022 had gone up to almost two years. “People placed a lot of orders. Now the whole industry is working through a backlog,” she said.
Schneider agreed with Mason that lead acid batteries are still the most common choice in the industry. But within the battery space, “lithium-ion is the sort of de facto standard,” she said.
For those now considering battery power, Schneider said the focus tends to be less on value propositions and more on whether the supplier will have adequate service available.
Questions tend to revolve around the quality of production processes and the support available. These considerations go hand in hand with the increased sophistication of the customer base, said Schneider, who said the industry overall is more comfortable with the concept of battery power.
Green Cubes introduced the Lithium Safe Flex Plus line in advance of MODEX last year, and Schneider said the company will feature the product line again this year. “It’s based on a modular design that makes servicing batteries easier and more reliable. If one modular goes down, the battery can be operated until it can be replaced,” she said.
The line also has a UL listing for safety, which Schneider said has been of interest to consumers. “The need for UL is becoming a very large topic of conversation within material handling and the lift truck community,” she said.
Bluewater Battery Logistics helps its customers with compliant and safe redistribution of healthy battery modules and cells, both in excess new and used, for second-life applications, according to Ben Firestone, CEO.
” Bluewater also provides recycling services, including safe, compliant, and transparent disposal of batteries at the end of their useful life, damaged or defective battery packs,” he said.
Firestone noted that lithium battery manufacturing capacity worldwide grew from 150 gigawatt-hours in 2019 to 600 in 2023 and is projected to reach over 4.5 terawatt-hours by 2030. He said Bluewater’s services assist customers with two key challenges related to the rapid development of the lithium segment: supply chain inefficiencies and safety issues.
As 2025 proceeds, Firestone said the maturing second-life battery market will continue to grow in volume and complexity. “Companies are looking for ways to preserve the value of their retired batteries that can’t be used in their original applications,” he said.
“As safety regulations align with advancements in lithium battery technology, we see a growing demand for customized battery logistic services to help companies navigate the state, federal, and international rules of lithium battery transportation and recycling,” Firestone said.
An increasing number of returned batteries ready for recycling creates a need for collecting, packaging, and shipping retired batteries from multiple dealer and user locations, according to
Firestone. “MHE operators with multiple sites will rely on their battery logistics partners for managing the transfer of liability, DOT compliance, and transparency, backed by a full audit trail,” he said.
Bluewater often hears from customers looking for a streamlined, “one-window” service for collecting, packaging, labeling, shipping, and recycling end-of-life batteries, according to Firestone, which is a need he said the company can fill.
The company’s streamlined service is customized for industrial lithium battery-powered equipment operators, he said, adding that Bluewater offers unified contracting for multiple locations, a means for meeting safety and compliance standards, and transparent reporting to support its customers’ sustainability goals.
“This service eliminates extra workload and safety concerns of managers dealing with the logistics of increasing numbers of idle lithium batteries across various locations,” Firestone said.
About the Author:
Eileen Mozinski Schmidt is a writer and journalist based in the Greater Milwaukee area. If your company would like to be featured, email [email protected]
