Companies choose efficiency over lower emissions

The report – Lowering the carbon emissions of fork lift trucks – available now to download on Calor’s website, has also highlighted that whilst renewable energy sources are set to take over from fossil fuel to generate electricity for the UK’s grid, only 20% of manufacturers surveyed use electric FLTs as the main type of vehicle for handling materials and supplies. What’s more, manufacturers who do employ electric FLT fleets reported negative impacts on production, with over 50% of respondents saying that they have to reduce outputs at certain times of the day or altering production schedules to fit around charging times.

Although new FLT technologies and greener fuels are continually being developed and coming onto the market, financial incentives for using these solutions would be welcomed by many. This view is backed by 46% in the industry who said in the survey that businesses should receive tax breaks if they can demonstrate annual carbon reduction achievements.

David Goss, Technical Manager of the British Industrial Truck Association says: “Since the Government set the target to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, how FLTs can move towards a greener, carbon-neutral future is becoming a bigger part of the conversation about how industry can operate more sustainably. Acting as an enabler for future discussions, BITA welcomes this report as a helpful addition to an important ongoing debate that is critical for the future of the FLT industry.”

Steve Donaldson, National Accounts Manager at Calor, says, “Organisations that are scrutinising their whole value-added network are increasingly looking at how they and their suppliers can operate more sustainably. For manufacturers, not only does this mean looking at reducing the amount of energy consumed by their production equipment, but also machinery used for warehousing and storage such as fork lift trucks. 

“Reducing carbon footprint whilst remaining cost-effective and minimising downtime in such an energy-intensive sector is no easy task. That’s why we wanted to better understand the issues involved, share the barriers to change and reveal the experiences and thoughts of FLT end users across a broad spectrum of industries. These insights would enable industry to have more meaningful conversations about how to adopt low-carbon technologies and fuels for FLTs more widely, in ways which would satisfy commercial, economic, operational and environmental demands.”

To read the full report, please visit: https://www.calor.co.uk/fltreport