A four-high lift truck battery charge
and change facility has been installed
by EnerSys at the St Helens regional
distribution centre operated by the
logistics arm of The Cooperative
Group.

“Multi-tier battery
banks have proved
themselves at our other
distribution centres and
going four-high is a safe
and flexible solution
which follows best
practice,” says Chas Shepperson
(pictured), national MHE fleet
manager at the logistics arm of The
Co-operative Group.

In a multi-tier installation batteries
are stored above each other to make
better use of floorspace and handled
in and out of racks using specially
adapted handling carts. These were
generally restricted to two or three
levels in the past because of
limitations with the hydraulic
performance of the handling
equipment. EnerSys
eliminated these issues at
The Co-operative Group’s
Chester-le-Street
warehouse by creating a
battery handling system
with a fully-electric battery
changing cart without any
need for hydraulics.

A version of this machine, which
was based on the popular Pro Series
BBH, was built for handling batteries
on four levels at St Helens.