Fronius launches new reliable battery chargers

Fronius Perfect Charging is expanding its Selectiva 4.0 product family in the 96V and 120V range. In doing so, the Austrian battery charging technology specialist is reacting to the increasing demand for electric forklift trucks for challenging heavy-duty applications.

Heavy-duty forklift trucks are indispensable for applications like goods handling in the timber and construction industry, recycling, and in the port and cargo ship sector. Until recently, these were mainly powered by combustion engines. Now, thanks to increased awareness of sustainability, stricter requirements, and more efficient drive technology, electrification is making further strides in the heavy load sector. This requires powerful traction batteries in the voltage range from 80 to 120V. In order to charge these lead-acid batteries efficiently and safely, Fronius Perfect Charging is adding two performance classes – 96V and 120V – to its Selectiva 4.0 portfolio.

“We help our customers switch to sustainable, electric intralogistics systems with our powerful charging technology. Our Selectiva 4.0 96V and 120V product range is specifically designed for transporting high-tonnage goods. The battery chargers have a compact design and flexibly adapt to our customers’ requirements. This allows us to reliably supply forklift trucks with power even when subject to challenging conditions, changes in grid quality, or extreme temperature fluctuations,” explains Patrick Gojer, Head of the Business Unit Perfect Charging.

Smart, compact, powerful

The Selectiva 4.0 96V and 120V battery chargers have several new features to help optimise the availability of the forklift truck fleet. One such feature is the Fronius Charger Interlock option, which is used to interlock the battery charging systems during the charging process if two batteries are being used in parallel to power the forklift truck. This prevents any imbalance in the states of charge and ensures that both batteries are evenly charged.

Equalising charges between the batteries are also prevented, as is one-sided discharge. Should the batteries be deep discharged, the new Selectiva 4.0 variants also reliably regenerate the batteries, thanks to a special characteristic included as standard. This represents a substantial cost benefit, especially for large traction batteries.

For full transparency and control of the entire charging infrastructure, the Selectiva 4.0 96V and 120V battery chargers can also be connected with the Fronius Charge & Connect solution. This provides real-time data on the state of charge of the connected batteries, the energy consumption, and the battery charger status. This gives fleet operators an overview of everything, even if there are multiple charging positions in indoor and outdoor areas.