Chennai

BYD India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of BYD Group, has forayed into the material handling equipment (MHE) business in India. These MHE products operate on a lithium-iron phosphate battery in the country.

BYD’s MHE products, adopt the company’s proprietary lithium-iron phosphate battery technology that provides their customers with a worry-free operating experience. Unlike traditional lead-acid battery powered equipment, BYD’s MHE products feature maintenance-free ‘One Battery for Life-time Operation’, meaning the battery can fulfill a life-long service reducing the cost of replacement or purchase. The company offers a wide range of MHE products into the Indian market that include counter balance forklifts (1.6 to 5 tonne), reach trucks (Up to 1.6 tonne), electric stackers (Up to 1.4 tonne), BOPT (Up to 2 tonne), tow trucks (Up to 25 tonne) and hand pallet trucks (Up To 2.5 tonne). In India, BYD has already set up a head office in Chennai that operate this business pan India.

BYD’s MHE products integrate parts from world known suppliers, such as, KDS Motors, Zapi/Curtis controller and ZF drive axle. The product allows opportunity charging, customized configuration and great environmental benefit of zero pollution, zero emission and zero noise.

BYD established its own MHE R&D and manufacturing facility at Shaoguan, Guangdong, China in 2009 with an investment of 515 million Chinese Yuan (73 million US dollars) and an area over 700,000 sq. mt. The facility hassix assembly lines which produce electric forklifts, stackers, reach truck, battery operated pallet truck (BOPT) andtow trucks. Its annual production capacity is 30,000 units and it is expected to triple thegrowth in 2019.

Ulhas Makeshwar, Head BYD India MHE business, said, “Our products have received sound feedbacks from the market, and we are very positive on acquiring more market share in a short term. Along with our direct sales, we are actively exploring business partners across India. Our major focus is on 3PL (Third Party Logistics), warehousing and logistics companies.”Since the launch, BYD has exhibited its forklift range in 3 exhibitions in Delhi, Chennai and Pune, and the company received an immediate 15 units of order on the debut on India Warehousing & Logistics Show in Delhi.”

“The Indian warehousing and logisticssector is expected to attract nearly $10 billion investment over the next 4-5 Years, and the modernisation, technological advancement and process optimization of the warehousing sector is undoubtedly the key driving force behind the growth of logistics sector.” Makeshwar added.

Ketsu Zhang, Executive Director, BYD India Pvt. Ltd., said, “With its exceptional performance, we believe BYD’s lithium-iron phosphate technology will become the next market favor in recent future. The market is looking very promising and we aim to become India’s largest premium electric warehousing andlogistics equipment supplier within 3 Years.”