A new range of electric trucks prompts a fantastic testimonial from our friends at Covers Timber & Builders’ Merchants.

We are delighted to have been working with the company for many years and were able to demonstrate the benefits immediately.

Of course, we are confident in the future use of electric machines and the gains they bring, but little beats hearing it from the horse’s mouth.  Here’s the customer’s comments…

Covers Timber & Builders’ Merchants is committed to minimising our impact on the environment. Part of this commitment is to reduce CO2 emissions by reducing our use of fossil fuels.

In 2015 we were discussing this with David Scammell of 4K Systems when he mentioned that Doosan had a new range of electric counterbalance forklifts which could do the work of Diesel powered machines. He assured us that these machines had an IP65 ingress rating and were therefore suitable for working outdoors in all weathers.

David then arranged a visit to a busy haulage company who had replaced engine powered forklifts with battery electrics and were reaping the benefits. Following this visit Covers analysed the market and discovered that these were the only machines to offer a high level of water ingress protection and would warrant the operation of a battery electric truck in a busy yard in all weathers.

We took delivery of our first B30X-7 forklift in January 2016 and ran it alongside a diesel powered machine to test the concept. We were delighted when it outperformed the diesel machine and was well received by the operators. At the end of a 6 month trial we calculated that the diesel forklift was costing us £2.30 per hour in red diesel, whilst the Doosan was costing only £0.29p per hour in mains electricity.

During the past 6 years Covers have also benefitted from savings in maintenance cost as the electrics are more reliable, have no filters or oils to change and reduced tyre wear, we have literally saved thousands. Following the success of the first B30X we made the commitment to convert all of our diesel powered forklift to battery power and our fleet of electrics now total in excess of 20 machines with more to follow.

David and 4K Systems have provided us with great support during our switch to electric power, from the initial concept through to keeping the fleet reliable 4K has made the transition easy.

Adam Conrad, Group Transport Manager