CARU Containers B.V. has announced that it will be receiving a 100% battery-powered Hyster empty container handler from Hyster for its depot in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The electric empty container handler will be powered by lithium-ion batteries with a voltage of 650 volts, which will be charged using solar panels installed at the CARU depot.
As per reports, more than 95% of CARU Container’s CO2 emissions in 2021 were due to its diesel forklifts and empty container handler. The introduction of the electric Hyster empty container handler is expected to significantly reduce the company’s greenhouse gas emissions while also helping to decrease operational costs in terms of diesel expenses.
Thirza Belder, Sustainability Officer at CARU Containers, said, “CARU Containers has invested heavily in its sustainability program. As a global market leader in container trade, we are keen to integrate sustainability into our entire value chain as we are striving to be net zero before 2030. Therefore, we started discussions with Hyster in 2021 to provide electric lift trucks and equipment for our depot, which later led to the electric empty container handler.“
CARU already has a battery with a capacity of 240 kilowatt-hours that can store enough energy to charge the empty container handler for most of the year, supplemented by grid power during shorter winter days when solar energy is less efficient. The solution is expected to provide enough charge to enable the truck to complete five to six hours of work during a shift before recharging overnight. Measuring devices have been installed throughout the site to calculate what percentage of the energy used comes from solar power.
Jan Willem van den Brand, Director, Global Business Development Big Trucks at Hyster, said: “This is a great application for a fully electric vehicle on a site that produces its electricity. The fully electric empty container handler we are supplying to CARU Containers follows years of research and development into sustainable technologies for the port and container handling industry.”
Hyster is at the forefront of electrifying higher-capacity port equipment, which has traditionally relied on internal combustion engine (ICE) power. The company is providing an empty container handler powered by hydrogen fuel cells in Hamburg, Germany, and testing the first-ever, real-world pilot of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered container handler at the Port of Los Angeles. Hyster has previously announced a pilot of a fuel-cell-powered ReachStacker at the Port of Valencia and a partnership with Capacity Trucks to develop electric and hydrogen-powered terminal tractors.
The electric empty container handler at the CARU depot is expected to operate for approximately 2,000 hours per year. Heffiq, a dealer local to CARU Containers, will act as the service partner, providing 24/7 service for maximum uptime of the truck, while Hyster will be actively involved in the integration of the truck. The empty container handler will be an electric equivalent to the Hyster H10XD-ECD8 double-container handler.
