Shared electric forklifts roll into logistics parks in Linyi

In Linyi Modern Logistics City, East China's Shandong province, logistics businesses now have a third option beyond buying or renting forklifts — shared new-energy forklifts.

"Similar to shared bikes, users just scan a code, choose a duration mode and drive away. Pick up nearby, return anytime, pay by time. The shortest session is 20 minutes at 8 yuan," said An Ergang, Linyi general distributor of the Hexiaobao shared forklift service, demonstrating the process on a WeChat mini program at the Lantian Smart Logistics Port on Oct 19.

Linyi, known as China's logistics capital, has the country's largest cluster of dedicated line logistics, with more than 3,000 logistics lines covering all county-level and above cities and reaching all ports and ports of entry — creating huge demand for forklifts. Meanwhile, small and medium tenants in logistics parks have long faced high purchase costs, low off-season utilization, maintenance burdens and supervision difficulties of special equipment.

Since entering the Lantian Smart Logistics Port in September, Hexiaobao has deployed more than 100 shared new-energy forklifts, with tenants from surrounding parks scanning to use them. "Buying such a forklift costs over 100,000 yuan. Putting the same money into a shared account lets you use several at once — 20 minutes, hours, days or months, no charging needed," said Wang Kailiang, head of Kailiang Logistics. Liu Huaide, who has run a Qingdao dedicated line for years, calculated that the hourly fee is roughly equal to or slightly lower than diesel fuel, while eliminating purchase, maintenance and management costs.

Every morning at 4 am, staff swap batteries for all forklifts. The platform monitors each vehicle in real time — yellow dots on the mini program's map mark low-battery units — and a battery swap takes about one minute at the exchange cabinet.

In line with the national dual-carbon goals, all forklifts deployed are high-configured lithium electric models of Heli, a leading Chinese forklift maker, achieving zero emissions and low noise. The platform requires real-name registration of operators, monitors vehicle health with automatic alerts, and promises on-site inspection within one hour of a repair report.

"Hexiaobao is not just deploying lithium forklifts, but filling the digitalization gap in the handling link of Linyi's smart logistics parks, creating value in merchant cost reduction, park management, industrial upgrading and green low-carbon development," An said. In the next 3 to 5 years, the service will keep expanding in Linyi to build a demonstration model of shared handling for logistics parks.

Editor：韩蒙蒙