{"id":18134,"date":"2023-10-12T09:57:28","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T07:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=18134"},"modified":"2025-05-28T15:02:44","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T13:02:44","slug":"ethium-innovative-lithium-ion-battery-for-forklifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/products\/fans\/ethium-innovative-lithium-ion-battery-for-forklifts_18134\/","title":{"rendered":"The energy bundles: inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive lithium-ion-battery for fork\u00adlifts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Logis\u00adtics closes the gap between produc\u00adtion and consump\u00adtion. Every\u00adthing we buy in stores, order online or have shipped to our homes was manu\u00adfac\u00adtured, pack\u00adaged and loaded else\u00adwhere. And it\u2019s highly likely that at some point, a fork\u00adlift truck  did the work, in a logis\u00adtics center some\u00adwhere in the world. Fork\u00adlift trucks are the busy bees in ware\u00adhouse and logis\u00adtics. They often work 24 hours a day, up to 365 days a year. The good news is that the majority of these millions of machines are now elec\u00adtric. The \u201cbad news\u201d is that the power usually comes from a lead-acid battery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, this is less envi\u00adron\u00admen\u00adtally friendly \u2013 the heavy metal lead is a hazard to health and the envi\u00adron\u00adment even in low doses \u2013 and secondly, it\u2019s stren\u00aduous for the fork\u00adlift drivers on shifts. Working three shifts a day, the team has to replace the lead acid battery three times. After the eight-hour shift is over, the proce\u00addure is always as follows: Hook up the empty battery on the charging cable, measure the water level and add water if neces\u00adsary, put the replace\u00adment battery in the fork\u00adlift and move on to the next shift. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lot of power in these boxes. This is key for hard-working forklifts in logistics.<\/mark><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(Photo | Scott Van Osdol)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fork\u00adlift truck there\u00adfore needs at least 2 to 3 lead acid batteries per working day, which have to be alter\u00adnately charged, re-installed and prop\u00aderly cared for to fulfill their service life. This costs logis\u00adtics special\u00adists time and money to deploy and main\u00adtain them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Highly effi\u00adcient compact fans<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Whether axial, radial or diag\u00adonal \u2013 ebm-papst compact fans are in any case trend-setting. Learn more in our free whitepaper!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More about #compact\u00adpower <\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Elec\u00adtri\u00adfied \u2013 but how?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ethium is an incu\u00adbated start-up within ECon\u00adtrols, a US leader and global provider of engine control solu\u00adtions and fuel systems for fork\u00adlift trucks. They know the market, under\u00adstand how fork\u00adlift trucks are used as well as how complex and expen\u00adsive oper\u00ada\u00adtion with lead-acid batteries is. Jinger McPeak, Vice Pres\u00adi\u00addent of Ethium, says, \u201cThe fork\u00adlift truck market is much further ahead with elec\u00adtri\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion than, for example, the auto\u00admo\u00adtive sector. At Ethium, it was clear to us that the next step now had to be a more sustain\u00adable drive solu\u00adtion \u2013 so, we devel\u00adoped the most advanced battery on the market. We wanted to develop this solu\u00adtion using inspi\u00adra\u00adtion from our long time OEM customers who were part of this trans\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion.\u201d Ethium began to develop a lithium-ion battery for the fork\u00adlift truck market in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe fork\u00adlift truck market is elec\u00adtri\u00adfied to a large extent. Now, together with the OEM, we are taking the next step towards a more sustain\u00adable drive solu\u00adtion.\u201d<\/p>\nJinger McPeak, Vice Pres\u00adi\u00addent Ethium by ECon\u00adtrols<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The parent company\u2019s many years of expe\u00adri\u00adence and data records from all of the cali\u00adbra\u00adtions, engine control systems and fuel systems for fork\u00adlift trucks were advan\u00adta\u00adgeous for the company. Never\u00adthe\u00adless, the devel\u00adopers started from scratch. \u201cEvery project at Ethium starts with a level 1 meeting. We put all our smart minds from the different disci\u00adplines into a room, throw the idea on the wall and ask, \u2018what do you think?\u2019 And then it is discussed and pondered. With 200 engi\u00adneers at the company, many of them with PhDs, this can be a lively discus\u00adsion,\u201d explains Jinger McPeak with a laugh. \u201cBut we believe in vigorous debate and this is how the best solu\u00adtions come about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 sustain\u00adable tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adical advan\u00adtages for the lithium-ion battery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For a total of five years, the engi\u00adneers worked on the lithium-ion battery, and devel\u00adoped five sustain\u00adable tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adical advan\u00adtages that ensure its safety and dura\u00adbility. Jinger McPeak calls it \u201can engi\u00adneering marvel\u201d: The battery box is more compact than a stan\u00addard lead-acid battery, with double the charging capacity. In just one hour, it is fully charged, water and normal main\u00adte\u00adnance are not required, and it still has up to four times the service life. The envi\u00adron\u00admental aspect was also impor\u00adtant in the devel\u00adop\u00adment phase, \u201cthe core of our solu\u00adtion is lithium iron phos\u00adphate (LFP). It is non-flam\u00admable, non-explo\u00adsive, has a maximum service life and maximum discharge depth. It has neither cobalt nor nickel, meaning fewer raw mate\u00adrials.\u201d One of the five sustain\u00adable advan\u00adtages is called \u201cactive balancing.\u201d The \u201cenergy level\u201d of the cells is constantly moni\u00adtored and, if neces\u00adsary, energy is fed from a full cell to one with a lower charge so that all cells are always charged and discharged evenly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jinger McPeak with two engi\u00adneers at the San Antonio site in Texas. Team\u00adwork could hardly be more impor\u00adtant. (Photo | Scott Van Odsol)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Mounted on top of the battery are the four compact fans from ebm-papst, for active cooling. (Photo | Scott Van Osdol)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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This makes the battery much more effi\u00adcient and prolongs its service life. For protec\u00adtion, Ethium relies on \u201cactive safety\u201d and \u201cpassive safety\u201d tech\u00adnology. Active safety involves moni\u00adtoring the data that is constantly supplied by the battery manage\u00adment system and provides infor\u00adma\u00adtion about the current condi\u00adtion. Passive means that all cells are connected using bonded wire: if a cell leaves its \u201ccomfort zone,\u201d it is auto\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcally switched off as with a fuse. Every module within the battery has its own Battery Manage\u00adment elec\u00adtronics providing the most intel\u00adli\u00adgent and respon\u00adsive of any battery on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Temper\u00ada\u00adture is an essen\u00adtial element in batteries. The tech\u00adnolo\u00adgies for this are \u201cactive heating\u201d and \u201cactive cooling,\u201d explains Jinger McPeak, \u201cThe dura\u00adbility of lithium-ion batteries relies heavily on them always having pleasant \u2018T-shirt temper\u00ada\u00adtures\u2019. This is why our batteries are actively cooled and actively heated.\u201d Sensors measure the temper\u00ada\u00adture of many of the hundreds of cells per battery module \u2013 around 3,000 cells in total per battery box. If it is too hot or too cold, the battery manage\u00adment system sets the air condi\u00adtioner or heating accord\u00adingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ethium produces its battery solu\u00adtion in San Antonio, Texas. Here, the compact fan from ebm-papst is currently being assem\u00adbled. (Photo | Scott Van Osdol)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Produc\u00adtion at Ethium just as inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive as their battery solu\u00adtion. (Photo | Scott Van Osdol)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A compact fan for cooling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The IP68-protected compact fan 4118\/2H4PU from ebm-papst is respon\u00adsible for active cooling. It extracts outside air through ducts in the battery housing, dissi\u00adpates it through the metal side of the modules and cools the cells in a targeted manner. The compact fan is UL-certi\u00adfied, an OEM safety regu\u00adla\u00adtion that is required for use on the Amer\u00adican market. Joe Giacona, Director Trans\u00adporta\u00adtion and Mobile at ebm-papst in Farm\u00adington, USA, says, \u201cEthium approached us for a robust solu\u00adtion for active cooling of their battery. Our team worked closely with their engi\u00adneers and our colleagues in Germany to find the optimal compact fan that exactly met the perfor\u00admance require\u00adments.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jinger McPeak empha\u00adsizes: \u201cThe fact that our engi\u00adneers chose the compact fan based on its perfor\u00admance values and robust\u00adness, and decided against devel\u00adoping their own solu\u00adtion, defi\u00adnitely speaks for the product and is a compli\u00adment!\u201d Now, if a customer would like to switch from the lead-acid to the lithium-ion battery, they can simply replace the old battery with a new battery from Ethium and off they go. Thanks to the stan\u00addard\u00adized connec\u00adtions and the iden\u00adtical size, this tran\u00adsi\u00adtion is swift and simple. But Jinger McPeak sees the wealth of data as one of the biggest advan\u00adtages for customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is how Ethium\u2019s inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive battery solu\u00adtion works<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The active battery cooling system, each with four compact fans from ebm-papst, ensures faster charging and a longer service life.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/span><\/a>

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The battery manage\u00adment system is the \u201cbrain\u201d of the battery. It constantly measures all the impor\u00adtant battery func\u00adtions, such as charge status or temper\u00ada\u00adture. The logis\u00adtics special\u00adists have access to the data at all times.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/span><\/a>

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The battery manage\u00adment system has smart elec\u00adtronics that monitor the energy flow within the cells. This ensures safety and opti\u00admiza\u00adtion during charging.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/span><\/a>

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The battery modules are arranged in a honey\u00adcomb struc\u00adture. This means that they can with\u00adstand severe stresses due to shock or vibra\u00adtion.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cSomeone managing a fork\u00adlift fleet needs reli\u00adable data around the clock: The battery provides a range of infor\u00adma\u00adtion, including on the battery charge status, service life and behavior during an average shift, via a web inter\u00adface. No one has to guess or rely on their gut feeling. In the best case scenario, our customers even uncover addi\u00adtional logis\u00adtics capac\u00adi\u00adties and can use fork\u00adlift trucks more effi\u00adciently without having to purchase new equip\u00adment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of one shift, the drivers charge the lithium-ion batteries during their short work breaks. All in all, charging takes no longer than sixty minutes per shift. No need to measure the water level, add water, or perform main\u00adte\u00adnance. Several thou\u00adsand charging cycles in 18 months without loss of capacity. \u201cWe are ready for the trans\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion,\u201d says Jinger McPeak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Logis\u00adtics closes the gap between produc\u00adtion and consump\u00adtion. Every\u00adthing we buy in stores, order online or have shipped to our homes was manu\u00adfac\u00adtured, pack\u00adaged and loaded else\u00adwhere. And it\u2019s highly likely that at some point, a fork\u00adlift truck  did the work, in a logis\u00adtics center some\u00adwhere in the world. Fork\u00adlift trucks are the busy bees [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drives","category-fans"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18134"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21428,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18134\/revisions\/21428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}