High Heat Burns Through Your Forklift Batteries

Americans waste around $100 billion worth of food every year.

By volume, our annual food waste could fill 365 stadiums. That’s a staggering amount of waste. Yet it’s only one-third of America’s annual food supply.

When your batteries overheat, you waste up to half of their lifespan.

Most years have around 260 working days. If each of your batteries works an eight-hour shift, that’s 2,080 working hours. That means high heat could cost you 1,040 hours of runtime per battery per year unless you purchase twice as many batteries.

For high-performance operations like yours, that kind of waste is unacceptable. Still, you aren’t powerless.

Read on to learn:

• Why high heat is murder on forklift batteries
• How to protect your batteries from heat damage

Dr. Arrhenius’s Basics of Forklift Battery Science

In 1903, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius was a chemistry rock star.

That year he won the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work in chemical kinetics. His Arrhenius principle mathematically defined the relationship between heat and the speed of the chemical reactions of acids and bases.

We’ll spare you the math, but essentially, Arrhenius took a novel view of acids and bases. He defined acids as substances that donate positive ions and bases as substances that donate negative ions.

If you’re thinking that sounds a lot like your lead acid batteries, you’re right.

Lead acid batteries contain sulphuric acid, which facilitates the transfer of ions between the lead cathode and anode during charging and discharge. Arrhenius’s research showed heat accelerates ion exchange. High temperatures sped up a battery’s internal reactions, and cold temperatures slowed them down.

That foundational chemical principle is why forklift batteries have a rated temperature range.

Runaway Reactions

The optimal temperature range for most lead acid batteries is 50 to 92 degrees, and 68 to 77 degrees for lithium-ion.

Below 50 degrees, a battery’s chemical reactions are too sluggish to be effective. Above 92 degrees, reaction rates outstrip discharge rates, leading to overcharging or thermal runaway. 

Overcharging damages the battery’s long-term capacity and causes premature failure. High heat also increases evaporation, concentrating the battery acid and damaging internal components.

Thermal runaway is a forklift battery safety issue.

Thermal runaway is a chain reaction caused by extreme overheating. Excessive heat can make the battery swell and burst. In lead acid batteries, the pressurized casing cracks and sprays concentrated sulphuric acid. In lithium-ion batteries, the cells can catch fire and shoot out of the casing.

Both outcomes risk worker injury and product damage.

Simple Protections for High Heat

Florida and Georgia summers can be unforgiving. Yet, our most successful customers protect their forklift batteries from the soaring temperatures with these techniques:

Forklift Battery Monitoring System

Long before Walter White, there was the real Heisenberg and his uncertainty principle.

The real uncertainty principle is nuanced and specific to quantum physics. However, in common use, it states, “What we observe, we change.” When it comes to forklift battery management, that’s a good thing. You can’t protect your batteries against heat if you don’t know their real-time temperatures.

Battery monitoring systems (BMSs) do exactly that.

BMSs constantly watch your battery, monitoring metrics like voltage and temperature. A high-quality BMS can even adjust battery behavior to protect it against adverse conditions like high heat. Lithium-ion batteries rely on these systems for heat protection.

A quality BMS can increase a lithium-ion battery’s heat tolerance to 140 degrees.

Forklift Battery Maintenance

Maintenance is the single most important thing you can do to protect your batteries.

Even under ideal conditions, batteries heat up during charging and discharging. Summer weather and hot warehouses further increase the operational temperature. This stresses all battery components, but the electrolyte solution suffers the most. Heat leads to evaporation. Water exits the sulphuric acid solution, throwing off the electrolyte balance and impacting performance.

Consequently, frequent watering is critical for maintaining battery lifespan.

Invest in a battery watering system to stay on top of maintenance. Without a watering system, maintaining battery electrolyte levels is time-consuming. A watering system makes the chore faster and easier, allowing you to protect your batteries without impacting daily productivity.

Watering systems are an inexpensive way to prevent battery lifespan degradation.

Forklift Battery Storage

The chemical reactions in your battery don’t stop during storage.

Even when your batteries are off the charger and out of the forklift, their internal reactions continue more slowly. That’s why batteries will lose some charge during storage.

Heat also accelerates these chemical reactions. As a result, storing your batteries in hot spaces will deplete them rapidly. This unmonitored depletion can take them past their rated depth of discharge (DoD), damaging the battery.

The simple solution is to store batteries in cool, dry spaces away from direct sunlight.

Shade is better than nothing. Shade can reduce ambient temperature by as much as 20 degrees. However, temperature-controlled storage is better. A temperature-controlled space ensures batteries remain at optimal temperatures, protecting lifespan.

High-performance operations remember that a battery is never inert, but you can influence the rate of reaction.

Heat Stress Prevention Rules

Finally, treat your batteries like associates on hot days.

Overheating threatens both associates and batteries. Consequently, many of the techniques used to protect your staff from heat stress also work for your forklift batteries:

• Schedule strenuous work for the coolest parts of the day.
• Give your batteries cool-down breaks.
• Keep them hydrated.
• Monitor them for signs of overheating.

The human body has many similarities to a wet cell battery. Take heat stress seriously, and you’ll protect both lifespans.

Forklift Battery Solutions

Electric forklifts offer huge benefits and improve every day.

Caring for your forklift batteries further improves your ROI. However, battery maintenance is not always intuitive. As your partner, we can help. Our experts understand forklift batteries inside and out. We provide the guidance and resources you need to ensure your batteries live as long as possible.

Don’t let heat beat your batteries. 

Contact us online or visit one of our locations to schedule a fleet assessment:

Florida
Jacksonville
Lakeland
Ocala
Orlando
Tampa
Winter Haven

Georgia
Albany
Macon
Columbus
Valdosta

Further Reading
3 Reasons Your Forklift Is Overheating
Top Tips: How To Maximize the Life of Your Forklift Batteries
Warehouse Heat Safety: Don’t Let the Heat Beat You!