Forklifts can generally be divided into three categories: internal combustion forklifts, electric forklifts and storage forklifts. According to the regulations of the World Industrial Vehicle Association (WITS), forklifts are further subdivided into forklifts according to the working environment, operator location and equipment characteristics.
01China's forklift sales growth rate far exceeds that of the world, and the forklift market has huge room for development
Driven by the development of the logistics industry and the upgrading of the manufacturing industry, global forklift sales reached 1.596 million units in 2020, an increase of 6.9% year-on-year, and a compound annual growth rate of approximately 8.5% in the past five years. After the sales of my country's motorized industrial vehicles exceeded 600,000 units in 2019, sales in 2020 will hit a record high, with annual sales exceeding 800,000 units, an increase of 31.54%, and global sales accounted for approximately 50.1%.
With the accelerated development of my country's logistics industry and the continuous increase in support for "new infrastructure" in the future, the demand for forklifts will increase. According to statistics from the Industrial Vehicle Branch of the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, in the first quarter of 2021, national sales exceeded 240,000 units. In March alone, the monthly sales exceeded 120,000 units, setting a new monthly sales record. The sales volume of China's forklift trucks in the first quarter of 2021 has surpassed that of the United States in one year, which once again reflects the huge development potential of China's forklift market.
02Driven by environmental protection policies and indoor operating environment requirements, the trend of electrification of forklifts is obvious
As a production tool, the use of forklifts is high, the application scale is large, and the emission problem is prominent. Driven by environmental protection policies and indoor operating environment requirements, the proportion of electric forklifts will continue to grow. The data shows that the global sales of electric forklifts in 2020 is about 1.005 million units, an increase of 7.6% year-on-year, and the electrification rate reaches 63.0%; in 2020, the sales of electric forklifts in China is about 410 thousand units, and the electrification rate exceeds 50.0% for the first time. Compared with each year, the trend of electrification of forklifts is obvious.
Among them, a total of 389,973 internal combustion counterweight ride-on forklifts were sold in 2020, accounting for 48.7 of the annual sales volume, which was an increase of 25.92% compared with 309,704 units in the same period last year. Among the internal combustion counterweight ride-on forklifts, there are 374,642 diesel forklifts, and the remaining 15,331 gasoline forklifts (including dual-fuel).
03Look for superior applications, whether fuel cells can fill the gap in electric forklifts
Due to noise, emissions and other reasons, forklifts operating indoors cannot use internal combustion engines, but use a large number of rechargeable batteries. There are problems in the use of currently widely used electric forklifts: the charging time of electric forklifts is long, and the purchase of spare batteries for replacement during charging will increase the cost. Low-temperature environment will affect battery performance and is not suitable for low-temperature warehouses. The battery charging system is complicated. To meet the charging needs of a forklift fleet, dozens of chargers and dozens of rechargeable batteries are required, and the charging time of up to two hours will greatly affect the transportation efficiency. Battery discharge will cause the voltage to drop, which will slow down the speed of the forklift and reduce the production efficiency. For example, if the electric forklift works for 4 hours and continues to work for 4 hours, the speed will drop by an average of about 14%. The ability to replace medium, large and large tonnage internal combustion engine forklifts is limited.
From a technical point of view, fuel cell forklifts combine the advantages of pure battery forklifts, such as unrestricted use in enclosed spaces. At the same time, it also has the advantages of internal combustion engine forklifts, that is, high utilization, high performance, continuous performance level, fast filling and so on. The following is a comparison of the two under a hypothetical case.
At present, there are still many problems in the application and promotion of fuel cell forklifts, mainly in several aspects: the purchase cost is too high, and the price of fuel cell forklifts is twice that of ordinary lithium battery forklifts, and it is even higher than lead-acid batteries and internal combustion engines. Several times. The cost of fuel is high, the current hydrogen price is too high, and the cost of use is far behind the domestic electricity price. There is no standard, and hydrogen filling of fuel cell forklifts still requires more specific and standardized management regulations.
04Forklift companies with fuel cell layout and their future development
From the perspective of the concentration of the forklift industry, the total market share of the top ten forklift companies in China is about 85%. According to the white paper released by EVTank, in 2020, the CR10 of China's forklift industry is 91.1%, an increase of 7.9% from 2019. Industry concentration is further improved. Among them, Anhui Heli and Hangcha Group are firmly ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the forklift industry, with a combined market share of over 50% in 2020, showing a “double-head” pattern, and both have a layout in fuel cell forklifts.
Foreign forklift companies, such as Linde, Steele, Jungheinrich, Kalmar, Toyota, Crown, Hyster, and Hyundai, have launched their own fuel cell forklift products.
With the continuous improvement of the fuel cell industry and the decline in costs in the future, can domestic fuel cell forklift applications replicate the success of Plug Power and occupy a place in the electrification process?
