Prime Movers for Future Lift Trucks

An examination of future trends in lift truck developments suggests a stable product line with a requirement for increased power at a time of escalating fuel costs. Within the time scale of the present survey (up to about the year 2000) only battery/electric and derivatives of conventional reciprocating engines will provide this power. As the turn of the century is approached, a breakthrough in the development of high density, low weight battery systems is forecast, leading to a recovery of lost market share and eventual dominance. In the intervening period gasolene and diesel-derived engines will increase their market penetration, but the opportunity of reducing, or at least containing, operating costs by the introduction of a broad specification fuel oil and injected stratified charge engines will be lost.