An electric pallet truck, also known as an electric pallet stacker, is an incredibly handy piece of machinery that is utilised in the transportation and warehousing sectors. While often smaller in size than a traditional 4-wheeled forklift, they still offer significant benefits to those who utilise them. As such, this article is going to discuss:
- What is an electric pallet truck?
- How does the vehicle work?
- Benefits of an electric pallet truck
What is an Electric Pallet truck?
The electric pallet truck as its name suggests, is a truck that transports and lifts stock pallets; sometimes multiple pallets at any one time.
The pallets are lifted via a long tapered fork that is placed below the pallet, enabling it to be easily moved, lifted and transported to wherever it is required to be. What’s also important to understand is that every electric pallet truck comes with its own weight restrictions which means they are ideal for lifting lighter amounts of stock in smaller warehouse areas. As such, it is important to choose the correct pallet truck for your particular application.
Furthermore, it is absolutely pivotal that you never exceed the maximum weight as listed on the machinery. This is because if you try to lift stock that is too heavy for the capabilities of the vehicle, accident potential skyrockets. See our blog on the most common forklift accidents around the workplace where we identify that if a load is too heavy, it can cause a forklift to topple over.
Finally, electric pallet stackers are designed to make workloads easier, to make it safer for employees to move, and easier to stack pallets. This is while also providing productivity and time saving improvements.
How Does The Vehicle Work?
As for how the machine works, generally, there is a handle which acts as the main control centre for the entire vehicle. Some designs have directional and speed adjustment settings on the handle while others require you to push the truck manually to get to your desired location.
To lift a load, there will be buttons placed on the underside of the handle which require a simple press in order for the truck’s forks to raise. In addition, there will be a lowering function so that the pallet can be placed in the position it is required to be. Since the truck is powered by electricity, there will usually be a lid that can be prodded open in order to access the forklift’s battery system if users need to recharge the vehicle.
Benefits of an Electric Pallet Truck
There are many benefits of an electric pallet stacker. For example, they are particularly useful in a warehouse because they are smaller than a traditional forklift truck, meaning that they are capable of accessing smaller and narrow spaces. The electric pallet is also safe to use in the indoor warehouse environment as no harmful emissions are produced when in operation. Further benefits can be listed below:
Improves Productivity
Electric pallet trucks are high speed, are able to quickly charge and are highly versatile. This ability to work anywhere in the warehouse space alongside the fact that they can be quickly charged, while moving at speed can only mean that warehouse and transportation business experience only the greatest in terms of productivity as employees can transport stock from one side of the warehouse to the other in a timely fashion.
Greater Visibility
Pallet stacker trucks offer the employees greater visibility while operating the machine. This increased visibility allows the operator to manoeuvre down narrow aisles with ease and to
converse across the warehouse floor safely, as all obstacles can be clearly seen. It also means that lifting and lowering loads is also much safer as there are no forklift cabs which may be obstructing the vision of the operator.
Several Pallets at Any One Time
These pallet trucks have the capabilities to lift up several pallets at any one time. Pallets can be lifted up and taken to the desired location and then placed at the desired level quite easily with sufficient operator training. They can also be used indoors in the warehouse and then outside in loading bays where they can transfer pallets to the waiting lorry.
Safer And Cheaper to Run
The final benefits of investing in an electric pallet stacker is that in the long term, they can be much cheaper to run. We all know that governing representatives are trying to enforce business to be more sustainable and that includes switching to electric powered alternatives. With fuel prices seemingly looking to increase in the near distant future, having an electric powered pallet vehicle could be the option your warehouse and transportation business needs in order to remain sustainable and competitive.
Not to mention, vehicles that don’t burn fossil fuels in order to function reduce the amount of harmful emissions being dispersed throughout the operating areas and the earth’s atmosphere. For this reason, you can achieve a better carbon footprint as well as protect the health of your employees whilst working.