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efficiency promise. “We can guarantee
that after 8 years or 10,000 hours, 65%
of the battery life will remain,” claims
Contijoch.
These stats on battery performance
and reliability certainly make for
impressive reading and having seen
the charging at first hand, it is safe to
say their words carry merit. Normally
each charger has a 3.2 kWh input
for 80v with the standard price in
Europe set around 15 €0.15 per kWh.
This brings us onto the topic of cost
savings, an area in which BYD pride
themselves and which they believe
makes their forklift technology superior
to rival manufacturers. Each forklift and
forklift charger saves on water and
energy costs, battery maintenance,
infrastructural space, electrical costs
and time.
Contijoch dived further into the cost
savings. “Each machine costs between
€100 – €200 per year on water alone,
depending on the climate. We have
calculated that companies can save
between €1600 – €2000 per machine
per year on average, which speaks
volume for itself.”
With the quick charge capabilities you
don’t need to lift up the seat to view the
battery every time you wish to charge.
The only exception to this is when you
need put oil in. Otherwise it remains
out of sight. Contijoch believes this is a,
“useful and handy concept. On top of
that money that is saved in operating
the forklift. The end result is that the
driver is happy and the investors are
happy.” BYD have every intention on
keeping the battery technology just for
themselves. After all, the ion-phosphate
technology is not new as it has been
available since 1945.
During the trip we were privileged
to visit many factory plants across
southern China, with visits to the car
and bus factory, forklift quality control
plant, the forklift testing facility and a
tour of the battery factory to round off
the site visits.
“We can guarantee
that after 8 years or
10,000 hours, 65%
of the battery life
will remain”
Each factory specialised in one of the
many fields that make up the BYD
family, all of which contribute to the
sheer scale of the company. To give
you an indication of the scale, the BYD
Shaogun industrial park, in operation
since 2013, is home exclusively to the
forklift manufacturing division, on a site
spanning 1 million m
2
. The figure alone
is staggering but having walked through
the park it really is something to behold.
Across the site we took a peak into
the world of welding, painting and saw
the forklift assembly line all in action,
getting an eye-level perspective of
Chinese labour and the production
efficiency and speed that we have
read about in Europe over the last 20
years. The site retains the capacity to
produce 20,000 units a year and the
location hosts several key advantages,
such as strong transport links,
available resources to aid expansion,
not to mention a youthful and willing
workforce on the door step.
The factory tour also showed the
scale of the quality assurance within
the manufacturing. Machines for
plasma and laser cutting, welding and
CNC milling occupy many workshop
divisions, a reassuring site to behold
when inspecting the strict standards set
for these components.
As the week-long trip drew to a
close we had the opportunity to put
forward any queries or questions we
had regarding what we saw. One key
issue that was discussed related to the
company’s decision to head to Germany
to launch the forklifts to the market. The
point was made that they viewed the
German market as the most demanding.
Contijoch added, “the market is
high-end products. Therefore, if we
succeed there we feel we can succeed
anywhere. Cost ownership is very
important to the industry and we have
the lowest cost of ownership, which
makes it easier to sell to the commercial
markets.”
With Europe representing the biggest
market for the forklift exports, reliable
and flexible service from a European
hub was crucial. Parts are stored at the
European distribution centre in Venlo,
the Netherlands. From there, BYD offer
24-hour delivery and spare parts can be
delivered overnight. If a dealer requests
for new forklift stock then delivery will
take less than 5 days, giving greater
flexibility to the dealers. Furthermore,
there is a web shop facility for the
dealers which allows them to view stock
levels and order new parts through the
online catalogue.
BYD have plenty of potential in the
forklift market but sterner challenges
await as they join the big league. BYD
are well-renowned in China, now they
are developing their stance within
Europe. It’s safe to say that from what
we viewed over the course of a week,
their infrastructure can be the solid
bedrock needed in order to mount a
charge on the market leaders in Europe.
38
Logistics Business Magazine | September 2015
Forklifts