Practical guides to the decisions a forklift purchase actually turns on: which power type suits your shift pattern, what a truck costs to run once it is yours, and how to read a specification sheet without being misled by it.
Every guide links back to the database so you can check a claim against real published specifications, and to the calculators so you can put your own numbers in rather than accepting ours. None of them quote a price, for the reason set out in the first guide below.
Choosing the machine
- Electric vs diesel – decided by where the truck works and how many hours it runs, not by which technology is better.
- Electric vs LPG – the middle ground, and when it is the right one.
- Reach truck vs counterbalance – settled by the building rather than the trucks, and by one specific row on the sheet.
- Forklift classes I to VII – what the classification means, and where it stops helping.
Reading the specifications
- How to read a specification sheet – the VDI 2198 layout, the rows that decide a purchase, and an arithmetic check that catches a misread column.
- Load centre – why a capacity figure means nothing on its own, and why 500 mm and 600 mm ratings are not the same claim.
What it costs
- How much does a forklift cost? – why we publish no prices, and what to ask dealers instead.
- Operating cost – what the hourly figure is actually made of.
- Total cost of ownership – the formula written out, and what it deliberately leaves out.
- Battery cost – the number electric buyers most often forget.