Jungheinrich Trials Sodium-Ion Batteries in Forklifts

Hamburg-based Jungheinrich, one of Europe's leading intralogistics equipment manufacturers, has launched a field trial program for sodium-ion battery-powered forklifts. The tests are being conducted at selected customer facilities, where the new battery technology is being evaluated under a wide range of real-world conditions.

Sodium-ion batteries are attracting growing interest across the energy storage sector because they do not require lithium, cobalt, or nickel — critical raw materials that come with significant supply chain and geopolitical risks. For industrial applications like warehousing and logistics, this could mean more resilient and potentially lower-cost energy solutions.

The Jungheinrich program will assess how sodium-ion chemistry performs in demanding scenarios such as cold storage environments, continuous multi-shift operations, and high-throughput warehouse settings. This kind of structured validation is a key step before any broader commercial rollout.

If the trials prove successful, sodium-ion technology could emerge as a credible alternative to both lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries in the industrial vehicle segment. This would represent a meaningful shift in the energy storage landscape, with implications well beyond forklifts.