BYD Builds New Lithium-Powered Forklift Facility In Southern California
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BYD continues to sprint towards electrifying every vehicle category in the world with news today that it is adding an electric forklift shipping and receiving facility in the Southern California city of Rancho Dominguez. BYD will utilize the facility to import its forklifts into the region and give their material handling equipment teams a home base in the region. The new 50,000 square foot facility will also include supporting offices, warehousing, and demonstration space to show potential customers what these new lithium iron phosphate-powered vehicles are capable of.
“As we grow, we want to continue to bring our innovative technology closer to our customers,” said Stella Li, President of BYD North America. BYD has showcased the vehicles in the US, even selling them to a number of customers in Southern California, so the addition of the new warehouse is a natural build on progress in the segment to date.
“This expansion will help us build and strengthen our relationships and give us an important opportunity to showcase the variety of top-notch material handling equipment built by BYD,” said Terry Rains, Director of BYD’s North American Forklift Division. “BYD has been revolutionizing the material handing market and our extraordinary technology turns the industry inside-out by delivering a single-battery multi-shift solution.”
BYD believes its lithium-powered forklifts are game changers as they extend the life expectancy of the battery pack significantly compared to their lead-acid predecessors. A 90-minute charge time helps them to stay fully topped up with minimal downtime throughout a shift or day. The new forklift facility will open later this year at 18910 South Wilmington Avenue in Rancho Dominguez, California.
BYD continues to expand into new vehicle segments and categories from the largest of trucks and buses to mid-sized vehicles like street sweepers and even cement trucks. BYD’s fully electric products are biased towards fleet operations, electrifying the less sexy parts of the market as Tesla swoops in with all the glitz and glamour of a runway model. Tesla’s approach is not surprising considering CEO Elon Musk grew up watching his mom bring home the bacon as a model and nutritionist.
BYD’s global operations dwarf Tesla’s, with a core business building batteries for consumer electronics rounded out by a newer automotive arm and solar panel production. BYD has 220,000 employees across the globe compared to Tesla’s ~40,000 at last count. 1,000 of BYD’s employees are in North America with most of those based in Southern California at the company’s bus and truck plant in Lancaster, California.
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