Eileen Mozinski Schmidt Powering the warehouse: Battery and Chargers are key to successful operations
Powering equipment is one of the main considerations of any material handling operation. What type of battery power to use and how much of an investment to make. How to match a business’ objectives with evolutions within the industry. All are often top-of-mind when establishing an operation’s power system. This month, Material Handling Wholesaler looks at some of the trends in batteries and chargers, along with how some companies are thinking about energizing equipment.
New tech and trends
Flight Systems Industrial Products offers battery chargers and modules, controllers, dash displays, joysticks, the Xtender Battery Regenerator and other battery management products to service markets, according to the business website. Dustin Love, business development manager, said the company is preparing to launch a product that will improve lithium-ion battery shipping safety by discharging battery energy.
“Right now, there’s not really regulation when it comes to shipping lithium batteries,” said Love, noting that the safest shipping would be for a battery to be at zero volts. The Flight Systems’ machine, called The Battery Terminator, can discharge a battery all the way down to negative 2 volts, according to Love.
The Battery Terminator would largely serve the material handling market, although Love foresees it having a lot of use in automotive markets and even scrap yards as well. Love explained that lithium-ion batteries are supposed to last around 15 years.
The popularity of the batteries has been growing in recent years, and soon there will be a time when replacements are needed. “At some point, there’s going to be a large bottleneck. We are trying to get ahead of the game,” he said.
Also in new technology, Flight Systems has begun selling a wireless charger. The 1-kilowatt charger includes a charging pad on the vehicle that connects wirelessly to a wall charger. Love added that more powerful options are coming from the company this year and that the wireless chargers are mainly for AGVs and AMRs. “You can program robots to drive up to them and start charging,” Love said.
While lithium-ion power is “the talk of the town,” Love does not predict a complete shakeup of the market in the near future. “When it comes down to it, lead acid is still king. I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere for some time,” he said. Love noted that while lead acid batteries require certain types of work to maintain, lithium-ion batteries come with their own type of operational maintenance. “Lead acid requires watering and equalized chargers. Lithium has tech programs and troubleshooting. It’s just a different kind of maintenance,” he said.
On the lithium side, Love noted that there are developments outside of material handling occurring on CAN signals. “If you look at the automotive market with lithium, there used to be two different CAN signals.
“Now it’s pretty much compiling into one,” he said, noting that in material handling, signals differ by various manufacturers. “In order for lithium to really have a hold in the market, there will need to be some kind of compliance on the BMS protocol side, a more uniform approach to charging the batteries,” Love said.
A holistic approach
At Raymond Corporation, a variety of vehicle integration and power types are offered, including lithium-ion, lead-acid and more, according to the website. Raymond recently expanded its line of advanced energy solutions with the launch of the Energy Essential Distributed by Raymond® 48-volt drop-in lithium-ion battery (48V LIB), which is available in multiple configurations, according to the business.
Damon Hosmer, general manager of Raymond’s Energy Storage Solutions, agrees with Love that lithium-ion and hydrogen fuel cell power are “hot topics” currently. “Those are the big trends that we tend to hear about a lot,” he said.
Hosmer said customers lately have been taking a more holistic approach to establishing energy in an operation; considering technology, ways to reduce facility demand and more. “Energy and labor are the two most prevalent pain points,” he said, noting interest in the industry in reducing the footprint of banks of chargers in battery rooms, concerns about safety, and pursuit of sustainability.
Hosmer said Raymond’s thin plate pure lead batteries have been “a really exciting effort” over the past three years. The TPPL batteries are a solution especially helpful in facilities with cold storage, according to Hosmer.
In 2024, Hosmer predicted new technology will emerge domestically and he believes wireless charging will be in demand. “Wireless charging is really coming into place,” Hosmer said.
As to types of battery power, lithium-ion technology does present certain advantages, according to Hosmer. “Lithium has really emerged as the superior option from a performance perspective. The standard one-size-fits-all approach with lead acid may not be optimal,” he said.
Overall, expectations concerning energy are at a high level in the industry, according to Hosmer. “They expect the highest level of performance,” he said, noting that OEM’s are now working to keep up with the rapid pace of change. “The technology that comes out is changing daily,” he said.
Raymond is working to help customers navigate evolving technology and policy, including implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act. Sustainability sourcing is also key within the industry, including end-of-life stages for batteries, Hosmer said.
“Another advancement this year is the continued efforts around recycling,” said Hosmer, who said Raymond is helping close the gap around misconceptions related to recycling in the lithium-ion space. “It’s interesting to see the development of the value of those secondary life materials,” Hosmer said.
A ‘mainstream’ product
Green Cubes Technology, producer of lithium-ion power systems, announced late last year that the company had sold 10,000 of its Lithium SAFEFlex Battery. In terms of watt hours, that totals 297 megawatt hours, according to Robin Schneider, director of marketing.
Schneider said the company sees lithium-ion power as being aligned with more mainstream expectations of customers. “Lithium-ion products in general have gone from an early adopter experimental phase to a mainstream product,” she said, adding that now for some customers considerations are focused on commissions of larger installations, as opposed to one or two experimental models.
As to reuse, Schneider said that although Green Cubes has been shipping batteries to customers for 10 years and many of the products are getting to the end of warranty periods, customers are finding the batteries are still powered well enough to keep them in use.
As to the market makeup overall, Schneider said in 2023 many businesses did stay with lead acid in part because of higher interest rates. “As we see interest rates coming down, I would expect to see a bigger switch to lithium-ion, in addition to the normal higher user rates,” she said.
About the Author:
Eileen Mozinski Schmidt is a writer and journalist based in the Greater Milwaukee area. Email [email protected]. If your company would like to be featured, email [email protected]
