New FastCharge solution from Kalmar

FastCharge has low operational costs and can be applied to both manual and automatic machines. It is environmentally friendly and is NOx and CO² emissions free.

Henrik Häggblom, R&D manager, from Kalmar Horizontal Transportation business line, said: “It has been an excellent year in our development, and we are proud to introduce our new FastCharge solution.”

He continued: “It is clean, has low emissions and produces low volumes of noise. It is based on charging technology which is already in use (electric busses), this means it is proven and will be adaptable across many existing terminals.”

The charging systems will have a pantograph direct current charging system located flexibly on the working route at the terminal.

“The pantograph is flexible and can be scaled to terminal size and tailored for needs. It can be easily retrofitted to most of the existing Kalmar machines,” added Mr Häggblom.

With modern Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries being used, fast charging will be enabled. Instead of charging overnight the charging will take place for minimal periods of time at multiple occasions throughout the day.

Mr Häggblom continued: “It has very high charging power – up to 600kw. It will take up to five minutes to reach full power but having 100% power is not the solution. We aim to keep the carriers and shuttles at 40-95%.”

Kalmar believes the batteries should last up to ten years but this is dependant on ensuring they are not overworked and remain in the perfect charging zone of 40-95%.

“This technology makes the charging process smooth, as there is no need to take the machine out of operation for battery swapping. Neither is there a need to invest in battery swapping stations and extra batteries, said Dr. Tero Kokko, vice president at Horizontal Transportation Kalmar.

He added: “Our hybrid technology has been extremely well received by the market. We have long experience in Lithium-Ion technology in hybrid machines, and this development is a natural next step in reducing emissions. This latest complement to our portfolio will provide excellent value to terminals which are facing even tighter environmental requirements.”

FastCharge has been tested at the Tampere Technology and Competence Centre in Finland. More tests are planned for 2016 before the solution is released on to the market.