Konecranes receives order from HHLA for 25 AGVs with lithium-ion battery drives
Konecranes, pioneer and technological innovator in terminal automation, has received an order from Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) in Germany for 25 Konecranes Gottwald Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) with lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery drives for the Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA). The order was booked in the first quarter of 2017.
The machines are scheduled to be delivered in spring 2018 together with six fully automated quick chargers, writing the next chapter of the AGV technology story for both Konecranes and HHLA.
HHLA and Konecranes have been partners in technology for many years. The first AGVs were supplied to Hamburg in 2001. These were equipped with diesel-hydraulic drives, but in 2006 there followed AGVs with a diesel-electric drive train and, in 2011, AGVs with lead-acid batteries were delivered. At the time, these were the first battery-driven AGVs on the market. To date, a total of nearly 100 AGVs have been delivered to CTA.
The battery-driven AGVs from Konecranes are now established in reliable fleet operation in automated terminals in Europe and the USA. Some 200 of the approximately 650 machines delivered since 1991 are fitted with a battery drive. Terminal operators benefit from the high efficiency of the drive train combined with particularly low energy consumption. Noise emissions have also been considerably reduced and exhaust emissions have been completely eliminated from the terminal. As the drives are less complex than diesel-hydraulic or diesel-electric drives, maintenance costs have been noticeably reduced.
