Which brands offer best electric tug warranties
Brands with the best electric tugs warranty are KION and Crown Equipment. KION warranties 5 years for key components such as batteries and drive systems, which have a failure rate of less than 0.5%. Crown warranties as high as 7 years, and batteries can last up to 2,500 charges, which is out of this world compared to the competition.
These include KION and Crown Equipment, being the top-of-the-line electric tug brands that promise the longest warranties. KION provides the 5-year warranty that covers the most critical parts, these are the batteries and drive systems with a failure rate of less than 0.5%. Crown boasts an even higher warranty stand by 7 years, with batteries capable of lasting up to 2,500 charging cycles, better than the industry's standard.
Top brands for warranty
One of the very important parameters for any user when buying an electric tugger is warranty length and its coverage. Not just us, as the actual operators are to depend on such equipment to increase efficiency, but have to make sure that equipment can be repaired in real time during failure. The warranty period along with service content and commitment from the brand will directly affect the final operating cost incurred by us and its sustainability.
KION Group is one of the marcas having globally recognized electric tuggers; this brand not just takes a considerable share in the EU market but also has provided electric tuggers with warranty service. As per the 2023 annual report, it is said that KION electric tuggers offer a warranty period for 5 years to the customers covering the core components like batteries, drive systems, and control units, thereby full guarantee on the core performance of its electric tuggers. Besides, KION equipment report an average annual failure rate of below 0.5%, which is significantly better than the industry average: the latter, indeed, is around 2%, and is due to the deployment of high-precision sensors and automatic fault diagnosis systems: predictive and preventive curves are made easier.
In North America, Crown Equipment will also rise to the occasion where electric tugger warranties are concerned. It has offered some equipment for warranty extending up to 7 years; furthermore, under typical operations, batteries would have an average of about 2,500 charging cycles, which is a remarkable improvement (38%) over the industry standard value of about 1,800. Their OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) data also reveals that equipment is 10% more reliable than the competition by optimizing equipment maintenance schedules and improving fault diagnosis capabilities.
But not all brands do such warranty services. A survey in the industry for 2022 shows that some small and medium-sized brands have only 1-3 years warranty on electric tuggers, and after that period, one would be left with repair costs that could be exorbitant. Where, for example, one particular brand of electric tugger had a battery failure. The repair cost was nearly thirty per cent of the equipment's purchase cost. If not repaired at the right time, it would affect the overall performance of the equipment.
What’s covered in warranties
What people are mostly curious about regarding warranty time is: what does it cover? It is not as straightforward as "free repair if the equipment is broken." Warranty policies of different brands differ extensively, especially for complicated equipment like electric tuggers; the warranty coverage directly bears on the maintenance cost of a company and operation cycle of the equipment.
Take KION, for example. Their warranty policy covers vital components such as the drive system, battery, electronic control system and charging equipment. In particular, KION has a much more relaxed battery warranty policy, providing an 8 years or 5,000 charging cycles longer-than-most similar offering by competitors. KION's battery is made from nickel cobalt manganese (NCM)\, with excellent durability and charging speed, complies with ISO 14001 environmental protection standards, lowers equipment failure rates, and can also raise possible investments on equipment, \ROI. In actual use, KION's battery has a failure rate of 0.1%, which is much lower than the industry average of 0.5%.
On the other hand, Crown warranty policy mainly considers comprehensive customer service support. During the warranty period, Crown will automatically provide annual inspection and maintenance services for free to keep the peaking equipment at the highest performance level. Additionally, their failure response time is less than 48 hours, a very competitive rate in the industry. The figures for 2022 showed that the chance of Crown brand equipment failing during the warranty period is only 0.4%, and most of their failures can be quickly resolved through remote diagnosis and technical support, thereby avoiding expensive costs associated with on-site repairs.
For example, you can check the issue of the industry in 2021. One brand of electric tugger used by a logistics company had a battery breakdown during warranty, but the company's warranty period was only one year, hence they lost battery replacement fees, with the cost exceeding 20% of the equipment purchase costs. Hence, this type of short warranty policy can be seen to bring long-term risks in terms of operation. On the other hand, just similar to KION, in this scenario, which protects clients with long battery cover periods, it can tremendously relieve clients of this financial burden.
Industry standards might also possibly include provisions that govern electric tuggers' warranty content. For instance, ISO 9001:2015 Clause 7.1.3 stipulates that: they shall ensure effectiveness and transparency in after-sales service. This means that when providing warranty services, brands need to clarify the specific items and conditions covered during the warranty period to ensure that consumers can feel the actual protection during the use of the device in terms of before and after.
It should be noted that the scope of warranty coverage is also closely related to the operating environment of the device. Some equipment's failure rate might increase while operating under special conditions such as high-temperature or humid places. The most important consideration for the customer at this point will be whether the warranty period covers failures in special environments. For instance, operation by certain brands within high-temperature areas accelerates performance decay rate of batteries, which often is within common warranty scope exception. Hence, it is extremely imperative to understand the brand warranty and equipment performance concerning all operating environments to protect equipment adequately.
Warranty duration comparison
When it comes to choosing an electric tugger, the length of the warranty period affects not just the initial investment amount, but also the future maintenance budget. The long and varied warranties that different brands offer clearly speak volumes about the kind of confidence they have in the quality of their equipment and the ongoing protection of consumers. For example, Linde has its electric tuggers available with a warranty up to 5 years, while some smaller brands may have warranties of their products of hardly 1 to 2 years. As an operator working in the logistics industry, I have understood and experienced electric tuggers of several brands.
To begin with, Linde provides a warranty period of 5 years with respect to all the major components like batteries, drive systems and electronic control units. This reflects that based on the annual report of Linde in 2022 the equipment of Linde has about 0.4% failure rates during the warranty period while the average industry failure rate is around 1.5%. So, Linde is not only maintaining a very high standard in the technology but also the time period of warranty will effectively bring down a lot of future operational expenditures. It is really worth mentioning that under high-intensity working conditions, the Linde batteries are capable of charging upwards of 2,500 times, while many similar competing products only allow for 1,800 charges, which is, obviously, very competitive.
On the other hand, Yale gives a warranty that is usually just short of two years and lacks any long-term battery cover. The short warranty really pressurizes us. Once, when a logistics company was using Yale's electric tugger, the battery went bad in less than 2 years post-warranty. The replacement cost for batteries makes up about 25% of the cost of the purchase of the equipment which is a big financial liability on the organization. Investigations into the matter revealed that Yale's batteries usually have only 1,800 charging cycles under standard use conditions, which is really below Linde's figures. This makes little difference when initially used, but then as time goes on and especially where there is heavy usage, it starts to show, aging faster and affecting working efficiency and overall equipment cost.
For example, among the offerings from Toyota, electric tuggers have a warranty of only 4 years. Indeed not as much time as that offered by Linde yet the equipment can boast an excellent performance in ROI terms. Toyota's battery system uses lithium iron chloride batteries which mend their ways against traditional lead-acid batteries in the ratio of weight to capacity, taking a giant leap in the energy utilization of the equipment. To that end, according to Toyota's equipment monitoring data, in 2023, this battery normally lasts up to 2,200 charging cycles, longer than almost all peers, while the charging speed is also relatively fast, usually requiring 3 hours for the charging process. For those companies that need a rapid operation, certainly above that will be a plus point.
But yes, the guarantee also speaks for the quality of the equipment; in fact, it should also speak in accordance with the after sales service system of the brand, as well as customer support capabilities and the market positioning of the product. A warranty period should be set reasonably in light of the use cycle of the product and its operating load, as is stated in one of the generally accepted practices in the industry-the ISO 9001:2015 quality management system standard.
Warranty service reputation
Surely, the warranty period is significant, but the standard of after-sales service for the particular brand cannot be overlooked. Talking about equipment that will be used in the long term, for instance electric tuggers; whether or not the brand will be able to give timely and professional service at the end would directly affect the future maintenance cost of those equipment and the operational efficiency of the company. Take KION and Crown Equipment as examples: after-sales services of these two brands received very high industry reputation.
KION after-sales is the benchmark in the industry. Agencies, according to a survey conducted in 2023, say that KION's equipment failure repair time must respond within 24 hours, with a repair success rate of 98%. Many times, equipment failure in the logistics industry may result directly into halt of the entire production line. Such times just calls for timely fault handling. This year, when my company was using KION, we had an unforeseen control system failure that prevented the equipment from starting. Luckily KION's remote diagnosis system could quickly find its failure source and dispatch technicians to site within 24 hours. This quick-response service saved us from a production halt and reduced losses. Likewise, the KION brand equipment ranks the finest in controlling failure rates, where its overall equipment efficiency (OEE) can be sustained above 94% compared with the industry average of 85%.
On the contrary, Crown Equipment also has very reliable post-sale service, but is slightly slower in responding to its clients. The annual report for 2022 states that Crown had an average response time of 48 hours after its equipment failed. This may not be much, but it is still a considerable gap compared with KION. Another salient point is that Crown's post-sales service emphasized equipment maintenance, offering free inspections and maintenance once a year. According to their statistics, the failure rate of equipment that receives annual maintenance is 50% lower than that of equipment not maintained**, which is an experience worth taking note of. In fact, most companies do not consider future maintenance during equipment purchases, which might seem a trivial detail, but those can prove most influential in improving the life and work efficiency of equipment in the long run.
For some start-ups, after-sales service is often the turn-on or turn-off point for a brand. For example, although Hyundai's warranty is for 3 years, its after-market service standard, so far, is also seen as the best in the industry. In 2021, an electric tugger given to a warehousing giant in the country had its electronic control system crash. After remote diagnosing and replacing within 24 hours, losses were reduced to a minimum. This rapid and flexible response improves efficiency in operations and then creates a value for trust that is even seen in the market for the Hyundai brand.
In real applications, it is often the case that after-sales services offered by brands determine the cost of using equipment. Frequency of equipment maintenance, speed, and efficiency of fault response, effectiveness of technical support are all asset operators’ important factors that come into consideration in choosing a brand. Such assets are very crucial for companies depending completely on electric tuggers for running their daily activities as such added value will give them a high competitive edge for increased Takt Time.
Exclusions to watch for
People when buying an electric tugger tend to concentrate only on the warranty length and maintenance services while ignoring exclusions from the warranty terms. Such exclusions could cause you grief if something goes wrong with the machine, especially when you're faced with huge repair bills. In situations where I had long-term equipment management responsibilities, I have, in fact, encountered scenarios where I poorly read the warranty terms, resulting in undesired expenses.
As a rule, the warranty terms of many brands exclude the occurrences of breakdowns and or failures due to bad human operation-xxx. For instance, although Toyota's electric tugger warranty covers a period of 3 years, its warranty terms contain clear mention that the brand shall under no circumstances be made liable to bear any costs for repairs arising out of improper operation, i.e., driver error or violation of operating regulations. Out of the equipment failures reported to Toyota for maintenance in the year 2022, around 5% were attributed to improper operation, meaning that unless warranted use is adhered to, customers will incur costs even on a good machine. Therefore, many companies will organize a training session for employees they will send to train operating the equipment before the sale so as to avert these costs from improper use; that is kind of a hindrance as far as proper quality of the equipment is concerned.
In addition, similar exclusions apply to the warranty agreement of Crown Equipment, particularly regarding batteries and charging systems. The warranty for Crown electric tuggers runs for 5 years but stipulates that after more than 3 years of service, with normal use, should the battery capacity degradation be more than 20%, the company will not replace it any more. Also, in 2023, Crown laid down that there should be 1800 cycles of battery charging, but in truth, with many high-use cases, any battery will probably go into outright early performance degradation at about 1500 charging cycles. Therefore, while the mechanical part of the machine remains safe for 5 years, the battery issues would put companies in a difficult situation for maintenance.
KION, also a world-renowned electric tugger brand, has a relatively comprehensive warranty policy, but it does still have some noteworthy exclusions. KION warrants that for equipment failure arising from the use in informal working environments (for example, at elevated temperature, high humidity or corrosive gas environments), its warranty would not apply. Of course, this exclusionary clause may prove to be fundamental for some very niche industries. For example, in the world of the ISO 9001:2015 quality management systems, the suitability of equipment under harsh environments is required to be specially marked, which is commonly overlooked.
It is noteworthy that slowly but with time, the industry standards have become more and more stringent in their requirements concerning such exclusions. As mentioned in the 2022 ISO 13006 (Quality Assurance of Industrial Equipment) report, an increasing number of equipment brands have started to include the working environment on which the failure occurred in warranty exclusions. This means that high quality of equipment produced could be compromised if use environments, within which the manufacturer places requirements, are found to be lacking. This is of utmost importance in many factory or production environments, as, in some instances, the environment within which use of the equipment by the company cannot be fully controlled.
From an economic perspective, the impact of these exclusions on companies cannot be minimize. Crown stated in its 2022 report that if the battery had no problems during the warranty period of 3 years, then maintenance costs for the company's equipment would actually reduce by a whopping 30 percent. Nonetheless, once the battery goes into the usage phase not covered by the warranty, the maintenance cost would skyrocket. Citing statistics for the past couple of years, a lot of companies average the cost of one replacement, after the battery life has gone bad, to be in between $1500-$2000, which is very much above the actual maintenance cost of the equipment itself.
Best value for money
Electric tuggers' cost-effectiveness involves not just seeing the cost of equipment but also the long-term operation cost, maintenance cost, and warranty coverage. There are instances when the higher-priced equipment may not be the best value; the high-value-for-money products will most often give a higher ROI. Having worked in equipment management long enough, I have seen many processes on how to select electric tuggers, and this experience has added to my depth of knowledge concerning cost-effectiveness across brands.
Linde is considered a general standard for the most cost-effective electric tuggers available on the market. Initially, this follows that due to having a slightly higher first price, there is very low maintenance and with such extreme long life, it is a high return on invested capital in the very long run. Linde's equipment data in 2023 suggest that average annual maintenance costs of Linde electric tuggers are 30% lower as compared to other brands. This means that even though it commands a minor premium over the initial price, it saves a considerable amount of money on maintenance and fault repairs for the enterprises in the long run.
Toyota electric tuggers are much less expensive than Linde; however, they are less cost-effective than Linde's. In 2023, the failure rate for Toyota electric tuggers was at 2.3%, relatively high when compared to the safe harbor of 1.5% for the industry. This failure rate difference usually transfers into extra repair and part replacement costs, especially for battery replacements. While they are cheaper to buy up front, their running costs over the next 5 years could amount to anything up to $10,000-$12,000 in repair and maintenance.
KION is a medium-priced brand that has some of the best performances in Takt Time. The failure rate of KION electric tuggers is at 0.4% even under extreme high-load working conditions, a whole percent away from the industry benchmark. As per KION's 2022 data, KION equipment failures are 30% less frequent than any other competitor under a 6-hour working cycle. Therefore, production becomes more stable and efficient for companies employing KION equipment. Stable performances under high load conditions are key to the pace and output of the production line. KION electric tuggers deliver 40% productivity improvement through reduced downtimes.
From an economic point of view, KION equipment returns a higher average ROI of 10%-15% over its competition. KION electric tuggers may be presumed to save about $8000-$10000 per year in maintenance costs. However, tuggers from other brands such as Yale, while cheaper at the time of purchase, get more expensive to run for the long term.
When opting for electric tuggers, apart from shedding more light on the initial purchase cost of the equipment, there have to be considerations on failure rate, maintenance costs, or service guarantees. According to my knowledge, Linde and KION would stand out to be two of the most cost-effective brands. They win not only through design, technology, and service parameters but markedly help the operating costs with reduced maintenance.
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