Hitachi GLS, a home appliance company under the Hitachi Group, imported the first BYD forklift, and started operations at the Hitachi GLS Taga Plant (Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture) on March 1.

As a globally recognized company, the Hitachi Group is striving to achieve carbon neutrality in its workplaces and production activities by 2030. Hitachi GLS is mainly engaged in the household appliances and air-conditioning businesses of the Hitachi Group, and is actively promoting various decarbonization and environmental protection activities. For example, in July 2022, the Tochigi factory began to operate solar power generation facilities. In October 2022, the headquarters switched to using renewable energy power. A BYD 2.5-ton electric forklift.

On the day of the start of operation, the Hitachi Group issued an announcement on the official website and announced that it will gradually introduce electric forklifts to replace the running gasoline forklifts not only at the Taga plant, but also at the Tochigi plant (the development and production base of cold storage vehicles). By replacing with electric forklifts, it is estimated that about 520 tons of carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced each year.

BYD lithium battery electric forklifts do not emit carbon dioxide or any other exhaust gas during operation and charging, so they are not only environmentally friendly, but also provide employees with a clean working environment. In addition, lithium battery forklifts support fast charging, which greatly reduces charging time compared with lead-acid battery forklifts, and does not require routine maintenance such as water replenishment and battery cleaning, thereby improving operational efficiency. Since BYD launched lithium battery forklifts, it has sold products to about 30 countries and regions around the world.

BYD started selling lithium battery forklifts in Japan in 2015. So far, it has delivered about 500 forklifts (as of March 1, 2023) to the logistics, machinery, manufacturing and food industries. Users include well-known companies such as Hitachi, NTT, and Suntory Beer. Japan's BYD Forklift Company will continue to support Hitachi GLS to achieve carbon neutrality, promote environmentally friendly electric forklifts in Japan, and contribute to the Japanese government's efforts to achieve a carbon neutral society. Editor/He Yuting