Edison Source Buys Fast-Charge Minit-Charger Technology from Norvik Traction
"The Edison Minit-Charger fast-charge system has been very successful with large forklift users in the manufacturing and warehousing industries. This investment will allow us to provide significant improvements in customer benefits and pricing," said Brad Howard, president of Edison Source, a subsidiary of Edison Enterprises, the retail services unit of Edison International. "After significant review of other technologies, we are convinced of the superior characteristics of the Minit-Charger, lessening charge time by a factor of four without impact on battery life, and saving customers money by allowing them to charge forklifts right on the factory or warehouse floor, where they work."
"Optimizing worker productivity and lowering operating costs are key to maintaining every company's market position," said Peter Michalski, manager of the Minit-Charger product line. "The Edison Minit-Charger system offers significant operational advantages such as fast-charging the batteries during opportune times while they remain in the forklift. That eliminates the need for two or more battery sets per lift, battery changing rooms and related equipment. It also frees up space and eliminates time consuming battery changes and associated travel to the change room."
Edison Source will keep the technology offices at their current location in Mississaqua, Ontario Canada. Norvik employees involved with this technology will now be employed by a new Canadian company called Edison Source Norvik.
"The staff members here are expert technologists. Keeping the offices in Canada will ensure retention of the engineering expertise to maximize the speed at which we will continue to advance this technology," said Robert Field, general manager of Edison Source Norvik.
The Edison Minit-Charger already has a proven track record providing fast- charge solutions for forklifts, on-road electric vehicles, electric buses, as well as some smaller battery applications (including camcorders). Initial testing of fast-charging for forklifts began in 1996, and the chargers have now completed 150,000 shift hours of successful use for this application in commercial operations with several Fortune 500 automotive manufacturing, food & beverage and logistics companies.
The real beauty of this system is the revolutionary approach that enables fast charging of forklift batteries without removing them from the vehicle. Traditional techniques required that depleted batteries be removed, charged for eight hours and cooled for another six hours before reuse. With the Edison Mint-Charger, full battery charging occurs three to four times faster than conventional charging systems without the need to exchange batteries.
In a typical Edison Minit-Charger installation, several forklifts are assigned to a charger with each charger having several charging stations. The charger and stations are conveniently located where the lifts operate rather than a remote battery changing room. The need for battery rooms, battery change machines and multiple batteries per forklift is effectively eliminated. Forklift operators connect their vehicles to the charger when convenient, such as during break times, between shifts or during operationally idle times. The charger automatically and sequentially charges each forklift according to predetermined parameters suited to the customer's operation thereby maximizing use of available charge time and average state-of-charge of the forklifts. Forklifts with batteries ranging from 24 to 72 volts may be connected regardless of whether they are the same voltage or a mix of voltages.
The Edison Minit-Charger technology so accurately controls the charge to the battery that overcharging, along with its attendant excess gassing, heat buildup and loss of water, is eliminated. In addition to continued development of other applications and marketing of the core technology, Edison Source plans to continue Norvik's cutting-edge battery and battery charging research and development for outside customers.
Edited by Stephen Heiser