The European arm of EnerSys, the reserve and motive power battery manufacturer, has added a new range of onboard chargers to its portfolio, the company announced in June.

Most motive power battery technologies can support the new chargers, the firm says, which can be installed inside the battery compartment of a forklift truck thus eliminating the need to use AC power to charge the battery.

“In today’s material handling industry, the need for more space to optimize operations, combined with the necessity of making trucks always available, is becoming increasingly challenging,” said Anssi Laitinen, senior marketing director at EnerSys EMEA. “This in turn has created demand for more flexible, compact and integrated on-board power solutions that require virtually no maintenance and battery changes.

“To support this, we have developed a new range of advanced on-board chargers that enable operators to recharge their motive power batteries anywhere at any time, meaning a lift truck can effectively be turned into a portable charging room.”

There are two products in the range — the Compact charger that works with EnerSys’ TPPL (thin plate pure lead) battery technology in Class III forklift trucks, and the Life Compact charger, for other electric material handling vehicles that require an onboard battery.