The Chinese forklift giant will focus its production on a fleet of exclusively electric machines by 2025.

At a time when all sectors of the economy are looking to limit their impact on the environment, the forklift industry is no exception.
The Hangcha group announced its 2025 resolutions in a plan soberly titled “2025+”. The objective? To gradually phase out the production of heat engine forklifts and focus, exclusively on the production of electric models which match the performance of combustion engines.

Hangcha is therefore looking to take the next step in its fleet electrification strategy. Already in 2021, the group sold 110,000 electric vehicles, representing 44% of its total sales, while demand continues to grow year on year.

Faced with the shift to full electric, the group has developed a series of technologies to facilitate this transition, in particular regarding the development of a new generation of lithium batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. These technological advances have become a reality with the launch of three ranges of environmentally friendly forklift.

First the XC series, which is powered by lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, which offer far greater energy efficiency than conventional lithium batteries. With an autonomy of 10 hours and quick charge time of just 2 hours, these forklifts have the added benefit of requiring no maintenance. They also do not emit harmful fumes when charging thanks to the chemical composition of their batteries, which are completely acid free. With a maximum load capacity of 2.5 tons, the XC range has been designed for both warehouses and factories.

Designed to work indoors and outdoors, the XH series is powered by high-voltage lithium batteries. These are even more performant than the XC series, with an autonomy of more than 12 hours from a full charge in just one hour. This electric forklift range is also particularly fast and efficient thanks to the high efficiency of their 309-volt batteries, which enable them to reach a top speed of 21 kilometres per hour and carry loads of up to 3.5 tons. In this sense, it has redefined the concept of electric forklifts in terms of their efficiency, power and reliability, with the primary goal being to offer an alternative choice to internal combustion engine forklifts.

Finally, since 2016, Hangcha has in parallel been working on the development of hydrogen fuel cell powered trucks and launched the X series in November 2020, which sold 209 units in 2021, i.e. more than 90% of the market share in China. These also present a range of significant advantages, including a total absence of emissions, an ultra fast recharge time which does not exceed three minutes and a level of performance and productivity that leaves nothing to be desired compared with internal combustion models.

With these technological advances and good resolutions which form part of China’s carbon neutral by 2060 project, the Hangcha group is not planning on taking its foot of the peddle. On the contrary, it will persevere by increasing its annual production capacity to 200,000 units, powered exclusively by electricity, by 2022.