It is rare to find innovation giving costs and environmental advantages that repay the initial investment within one year yet that is what Sany has done with its energy recovery system (ERS) on its H9 20ft and 40ft container handling reach stackers.
Sany uses ERS that has been around for 20 years but only recently has it used the technology on its reach stackers, ostensibly the first and only to do so. Unlike many reach stackers it uses four cylinders for lifting and lowering, two of which are placed behind the driver's cab. These rear cylinders use the downward gravitational forces to charge nitrogen accumulators which in turn provide extra power over and above the available engine power for the next lift. The result is that theH9 stackers give more than 50% fuel savings over an identical machine without the ERS. Competitors use another system called flow drive transmissions with smaller engines but achievable fuel savings are only 25%.
How, though, do the investment figures stack up to justify the extra £25,000 to £30,000 for fitting the ERS? First consider the impact of the UK's abolition of red diesel for off road vehicles on April 1st this year. The lower duty on red diesel was only 11.14p per litre compared with the full duty rate of 57.9p for regular diesel, a huge difference. Now let's assume that a £380,000 yard reach stacker consumes 20 litres of diesel per hour. The ERS technology consumes only 9 litres of fuel per hour. Assuming a saving of 11 litres at £1.20 per litre and 2,000 hours work a year that equates to a saving of £26,000 every year, hence the one-year payback.
Not to be left out of the advantages is the environmental one that means far less exposure to diesel fumes and a cleaner, greener atmosphere. David Cooper, MD of Cooper Specialised Handling, the sole UK importer of Sany lift trucks, claims the H9 technology is the most radical change in reach stackers in the last 20 years. The technology certainly bears consideration.
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