Application potential of second-life lithium-ion battery on forklift

In recent years, electrification has become a major trend in the transportation domain, where the electrification of forklifts is even significant. In 2016, the annual growth of electric forklift production reached nearly 40%. Current electric forklifts are mainly lead-acid battery-powered; however, lead-acid battery is not environmentally friendly and have a short life span. With the advantage of improved environmental impact and less maintenance requirement compared with the lead-acid battery, and much less cost compared with the new lithium-ion battery, the second-life lithium-ion battery becomes a competitive alternative power supply for electric forklifts. In this paper, a comparison of the economic competitiveness between the lead-acid battery- powered forklift and second-life lithium-ion battery-powered forklift is carried out. With the detailed calculation of the total cost of ownership of both technologies with sensitivity analysis, the great potential of second-life lithium-ion battery-powered forklift is demonstrated.