22.12.2020

Electric telehandlers hotting up

The market for battery electric telehandlers appears to be getting a good deal more serious.

A regular Vertikal reader has sent us some photographs taken at the JCB headquarters in Rocester, where the company is working on the production version of its new compact electric telehandler - see: the six metre/2,500kg 525-60E. The pictures show a brand new Faresin 6.26 Full Electric compact telehandler parked outside the JCB Research Test Centre.
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Clearly the UK manufacturer is checking out the competition’s product in the iron, before starting up production of its own model and has rented - or maybe purchased one? JCB has already booked several orders for the new 525-60E, which shows how much interest there is in such a product and its entry into the market almost certainly help accelerate the uptake for such machines.
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Faresin launched its All Electric model at bauma last April and is currently building around 50 units a month and unable to keep pace with demand. As a result it is increasing this to 70 units a month in the new year. At least a dozen units have already been delivered to UK buyers – perhaps that explains the presence of one in JCB's yard. Meanwhile Manitou is still fine tuning its offering, which it unveiled as a prototype at bauma, following months of testing. It is also developing a hybrid version, using in partnership with Deutz.

With all this activity and such a competitive spirit you can expect battery electric telehandlers to become a dominant factor in the compact product sector far quicker than expected, possibly within a year or two – at least in Europe. In the meantime family owned Faresin will probably/possibly feel honoured to learn that such a mega corporation and market leading telehandler manufacturer is following its lead and even checking out the details of its design.