The new BT Levio LWI160 powered pallet truck from Toyota Material Handling has been awarded the 2020 iF design award.
Toyota Material Handling has been thinking out of the box to optimise the BT Levio li-ion LWI160, and came up with a revolutionary and innovative new design for the powered pallet truck. The LWI160 is the first ever low-lifter in the industry to have gone through a complete redesign approach.
Rethinking and optimising the entire layout of the truck by removing the traditional battery tank allowed an optimal fit of all components. Thanks to its built-in lithium-ion battery, telematics as standard and overall design, the high-quality, compact machine claimed the prestigious award. It is a prime example of Toyota’s core philosophy of continuous improvement, or kaizen.
“ Our new LWI160 is the most compact truck in its class offering a very wide and flexible energy solution within one optimised machine size setting the new benchmark” said Fredrik Nilsson, product manager warehouse trucks at Toyota Material Handling Europe.
The machine is the first ever pedestrian-operated truck that has been designed around a modular lithium-ion battery concept, making the truck very compact, light and energy-efficient. It comes with three battery capacities: 50, 105 and 150 Ah Li-ion, and offers easy and fast charging procedure as well as customised energy solutions depending on customer needs.
Customers have the choice between external charging, in-built charging or on-board lorry charging with a wide range of charger capacities. A new improved external charger connector is available with a push-in connection without the need of a ‘jumper’, bringing ever more efficiency in the workplace.
The LWI160 can be used in a wide variety of low, medium and high-intensity pedestrian applications. It is ideal for working in confined spaces such as retail sales areas, shops and supermarkets but also perfect for horizontal transport, loading and unloading. This one compact machine size offers easy manoeuvring and is perfect to use on-board delivery vehicles such as lorries. This innovative lightweight low-lifter from Toyota is only 269 kg (including a 105Ah battery) and can transport loads of up to 1.6 tonnes with ease over short to medium distances with a travel speed of up to 6 km/h.
Saul Wordsworth is deputy editor of the iVT brand - which includes digital and print editions of a quarterly magazine and Off-Highway Annual, as well as ivtinternational.com. He is a keen cyclist and lives in north London.
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