How to calculate the cost of owning and operating in Houston Texas?
Several professionals in the sector are “lost” when asked about the cost of owning and operating a forklift, especially when choosing between combustion and electric machines.
CALCULATION EXAMPLE:
COMBUSTION MACHINE OF 2.5 TONS. Approximate value: $ 78,000.00 Financial cost: The monthly installment taking into account interest of 1% p.m. and depreciating the equipment over 10 years, it comes to $ 1119.00.
Monthly maintenance cost: In this case, preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance must be taken into account. This cost varies greatly depending on the application of the equipment, the conditions of the floor, the care of the operator, etc. Each company will have a different maintenance cost than the other. An average maintenance cost for a 2.5-ton piece of equipment, operating 2 to 3 shifts, is around $ 600.00 per month.
Operating cost: This cost is basically the cost of fuel. It can be said that a 2.5-ton forklift uses, on average, 20 kg of LPG in one shift, depending a lot on the operation. The average value of a P20 LPG cylinder is $ 42.00, so if the forklift works in two shifts, 22 days a week, we will have: 2 X 22 X $ 42.00 ==> $ 1848.00 per month.
Therefore, the monthly cost of this forklift will be the sum of the three costs above, that is $ 1119.00 + $ 600.00 + $ 1848.00 = $ 3567.00.
Frequently asked questions among professionals working in the sector, such as calculating the cost of ownership and the cost of operating forklifts, are answered by some of the specialists in the sector, linked to the manufacture and distribution of such equipment, in this special report by LogWeb. They are Frank Bender, commercial director of Still do Brasil; Guilherme Gomes Martinez, district representative of Yale Forklifts, and Italo Fagá, administrative and commercial supervisor of Linde Material Handling.
Property
What is the real cost of owning a forklift? How to calculate?
Bender:
We can classify the actual costs of a forklift into three types: financial cost, maintenance cost and operating cost. To calculate the real cost of a forklift, you must have an exact notion of these three components. Generally, companies focus too much on the cost of the asset and forget to worry about the other costs, which are almost always the highest, as can be seen in the example in the table. Click here for a forklift rental in Houston Texas
As noted, this cost depends on a number of factors, and each company must have its own cost. However, the estimate calculated in the example will not be very different from the reality of the companies.
It was concluded that it is essential to know the monthly operating and maintenance cost of forklifts, as the sum of these factors is much greater than the financial cost of the asset. If we did the example calculation for a 2.5 ton electric forklift, we would have a financial cost of approximately 20 to 30% higher, but the maintenance and operation costs would be much lower.
Capacity
The real cost of the forklift will depend a lot on the model that the customer needs. The price of a 2.5-ton, zero-kilometer combustion forklift, for example, is in the $25,000 to $30,000 range. Electric forklifts, also capable of handling 2.5 tons, cost a little more, around $27,000, not including battery and charger. The new battery and charger together cost around 20,000 reais, or approximately 7,000 dollars, and have a useful life of more than five years. So, the initial cost of the zero-kilometer electric forklift is approximately $34,000.
Real Cost
The real costs for calculating the ownership of an equipment can be obtained through the following method: equipment financing costs (5 years of useful life) (CF) + operating cost (labor + charges) (CO) + cost of energy (fuel for the operation) (CE) + maintenance cost (preventive + corrective) (CM).
Differences
LogWeb: In the case of property, what are the cost differences for electric machines and combustion?
Bender:
As I already mentioned in the previous example, the asset cost on an electric forklift truck is about 20-30% higher due to the traction batteries. However, the maintenance cost is much lower, because in electric forklift trucks we don’t have costs such as changing the transmission and engine oil and, consequently, the filters. The transmission itself is an item that does not exist, so it cannot break.
The number of wear items on electric forklift trucks is much lower than on combustion machines.
In terms of operating costs, we also have a huge reduction, as the battery of an electric forklift lasts about 8 hours of work (1 shift) and the average cost to charge a battery is around $9.00.
Considering only the operating cost, we already have a reduction from $ 42.00 (GLP P20) to $ 9.00 (charge of a traction battery) for each work shift.
If we think of a 3-shift operation, we will have savings of $ 99.00 per day.
Cost Difference
Cost differences will depend on several factors, maintenance care and the correct use of each type of forklift. Despite having a higher initial cost, electric forklifts use very little energy, around $ 10.00 per day.
In addition, because they have a lot of electronic technology on board, they have a very low maintenance rate. It is important to emphasize, however, that this type of forklift truck is recommended for working indoors, with perfect floors and joints.