NEXT GENERATION ELECTRIC FORKLIFT BATTERY TECHNOLOGY

World's 1st Li-ION battery powered forklift

To support Nissan Motor Co. LTD's commitment to mass producing zero emission vehicles, Nissan has been developing lithium-ion batteries - a key technology - since 1992 with focus on reducing the size while increasing the power and capacity. To that end, in April of 2007,Nissan established Automotive Energy Supply Corporation in partnership with NEC Corporation and NEC Tokin Corporation for mass production.

Recently Nissan unveiled the LEAF it's first commercially available zero emission car using the advanced laminated Li-ION lithium ion structure battery.

Nissan plans to begin mass production of the LEAF in late 2010. By 2012 Li-ION powered electric cars should be on the roads globally.

The Li-ION battery is also expected to make its production debut in a new design Nissan Forklift sometime in 2012.

Major Li-ION characteristics
Compared to conventional lead-acid batteries, Li-ION power offers a number of environmental as well as operational advantages - superior performance, reliability, safety, versatility and cost competitiveness.

Environmental advantages

• Zero emission and no harmful materials used in the battery.
• Li-ION technology does not use restricted pollutants such as cadmium, lead, mercury or sulfuric acid. As there are no gas emissions during charging, there is no need for dedicated charging bays.
• Less energy consumption (less CO2).

Operational advantages (Comparison with conventional lead-acid type battery)

• Quick Charge
  Charging a Li-ION battery is quicker and allows for longer operational hours. It makes operations more flexible and reduces the need for additional batteries.
• Maintenance Free
  Maintenance is virtually zero as there is no need for refilling of the battery cells with water as normally required for lead-acid batteries.
• High Power
  Li-ION batteries offer significantly more power and energy, resulting in better performance and longer run times.
• Long Life
  After some time the polar plates of a conventional lead-acid battery become sulphated, causing high resistance and extreme difficulty in recharging again. The nearly perfect reversible reaction process between electrons and Li-ION does not cause this type of "waste". It results in a longer battery life which reduces replacement investments considerably.
• Compact
  Size of Li-ION batteries can be reduced dramatically against conventional lead-acid batteries of the same capacity, allowing for flexible design and arrangement in the forklift truck.
• Excellent (Dis)charge Performance
  During charging and discharging there is less energy loss and less energy is needed to fully charge the Li-ION battery. Extended working time also results from larger recovering energy from regenerative braking
  

Lithium is a highly reactive element, meaning that a lot of energy can be stored in its atomic bonds. This translates into a very high energy density for lithium-ion batteries. Here is a way to get a perspective on the energy density. A typical lithium-ion battery can store 150 watt-hours of electricity in 1 kilogram of battery. A NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) battery pack can store perhaps 100 watt-hours per kilogram, although 60 to 70 watt-hours might be more typical. A lead-acid battery can store only 25 watt-hours per kilogram. Using lead-acid technology, it takes 6 kilograms to store the same amount of energy that a 1 kilogram lithium-ion battery can handle. That's a huge difference.

They hold their charge. A lithium-ion battery pack loses only about 5 percent of its charge per month, compared to a 20 percent loss per month for NiMH batteries.

They have no memory effect, which means that you do not have to completely discharge them before recharging, as with some other battery chemistries.

Lithium-ion batteries can handle hundreds of charge/discharge cycles.

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