Giving forklifts an edge: electronic system for gasoline, gaseous and dual-fuel engines available on Nissan forklifts - Material Handling Equipment - Nissan Forklift Corporation North America

Diesel Progress North American Edition, Sept, 2002 by Brent Haight

With Tier 2 emission regulations less than two years away, Nissan Forklift Corp., North America has introduced the Edge engine system as an option on all Nomad and Optimum Cushion and Pneumatic forklift models through 5000 lb. capacity.

That introduction, along with the announcement that Nissan will manufacture its 100,000th Nissan brand forklift in the United States in 2002, is creating a banner year for Nissan Forklifts Corp. in an otherwise tepid year for material handling.

Nissan Forklift Corp., North America is a full-line supplier of engine powered forklifts ranging in lift capacity from 3000 to 15,500 lb., as well as a variety of electric sit-down riders, narrow aisle reach trucks, electric pallet trucks, electric tow tractors, electric stackers and manual pallet trucks in the Nissan and Barrett Industrial Truck brands.

"The material handling industry, like so many others, has faced some interesting challenges over 2001," said Mark Akabori, president of the Marengo, Ill.- based forklift manufacturer. "For some time now, economists have been promising market recovery in the United States by the second half of 2002. Recent economic indicators are finally beginning to support that prediction."

Chuck Leone, vice president of sales and marketing for Nissan Forklifts said his company was "beginning to see positive signs that the market is recovering."

"People are beginning to purchase equipment again," Leone said. "We have seen an increase in productivity from many of our customers. But there is still along ways to go. There is still less of an appetite to buy new equipment from the highs of the last four or five years.

"During that time, everyone kept saying that the next year won't be as good. But it was. In fact, it was even better than the previous year. We started to move downward in 2000 and 2001 was a little worse. We had high shipments and low orders, so the backlog went away pretty fast. With the impact of so much product in the marketplace and the parade of financial packages, customers bought a lot of equipment and had the ability to park equipment and not use it as much. There was a significant impact by rental companies at that time as well. They made large acquisitions of trucks and now they are trying to disperse this product into he marketplace.

"While things are beginning to pick up, the market is certainly still down," said Leone. "April was our strongest month in 12 months. We are anticipating that 2002 will be about the same as 2001, which was down between 60,000 and 70,000 trucks from the previous year.

"We feel that the Edge will have an enormous impact on the forklift industry, as well as the environment."

Jointly developed by Nissan Industrial Engines Operations and Zenith Fuel Systems, the Edge (efficient fuel delivery governed electronically) delivers all the advantages of electronic fuel injection combined with electronic governing. The Edge system includes a newly developed electronic control unit (ECU) with updated software and an electronic governor and throttle body injector, as well as air temperature and map sensors. Zenith also provides a water temperature sensor.

The ECU, electronic fuel injectors and sensors are designed to work together to reduce fuel consumption and costs. One of the keys to the Edge system is precise fuel injection. According to the company the system delivers the exact amount of fuel and air required under different load conditions, meaning improved exhaust emissions control. The system also automatically compensates for altitude.

The Edge system is available in gasoline, LPG and dual-fuel models. The dual-fuel version can switch fuels "on-the-fly" with the engine running under load.

"The California Air Resources Board decided that now is the time to clean up the air," said Leone. "The compliance for the new regulations is set up to occur gradually. The gradual compliance schedule was set up to begin in the year 2001, so we are already into the CARB compliance era so to speak. By 2001, manufacturers of forklift trucks had to meet the clean air standards with 25 percent of the trucks that they sold in the California commerce. This year, in 2002, the amount is 50 percent. In 2003 it is 75 percent.

"By 2004, 100 percent of the forklifts that are sold in the California commerce must meet the CARB guidelines for low emissions.

"Nissan Forklifts are very proud of the fact that we were the first forklift manufacturer to comply We were the first forklift manufacturer to sell compliant trucks into the state of California, and we are continuing to be very aggressive in the development and promotion of our clean air products.

"Clean air regulations will begin for the entire country in 2004. The EPA will adapt CARB standards through 2007, when additional requirements will be put into place. Thanks to the Edge system, our forklift trucks today meet the requirements for clean air and low emissions though the year 2007."

Standard features with the Edge system includes advanced engine protection, a creep home mode and onboard self-diagnostics. The advanced engine protection shuts down the truck's engine in the event of high water temperature, low oil pressure or high transmission fluid temperature. The creep home mode detects possible overheating conditions, reduces engine rpm and displays a warning on the dash, while allowing time to move to a safe area. The on-board self-diagnostic system continuously monitors sensors and components to assure proper operation. If a fault is detected, a warning light on the dash is illuminated.