Cold storage · Intralogistics
Haubis (Austria)
Background
Haubis is an Austrian bakery manufacturer operating a state-of-the-art cold storage facility. The narrow storage aisles are served by Linde tuggers responsible for internal material flow at temperatures well below –20 °C.
The vehicles are factory-equipped for lead-acid batteries. As shift operation and warehouse throughput requirements grew, it became clear that lead-acid technology was not delivering reliably enough under cold-store conditions.
The problem
Lead-acid batteries lose significant capacity and performance at low temperatures. In a cold storage facility at temperatures well below –20 °C, this meant noticeably shorter runtimes, frequent charging interruptions in the middle of shift operation and increasing maintenance effort caused by accelerated ageing of the lead cells.
Every unplanned stoppage of a tugger placed a burden on the logistics process — in the narrow cold-store environment, where buffer and workaround options are limited, a failed vehicle directly affects material flow. The warehouse's supply reliability was increasingly at risk.
Requirements
- ✓Low-temperature capability: reliable operation at continuous temperatures well below –20 °C
- ✓Precise fit: lithium system must fit the existing Linde tugger installation space without vehicle modification
- ✓Shift-duty performance: sufficient capacity and discharge power for continuous operation in the cold store
- ✓Lower maintenance: fewer service intervals than wet lead-acid batteries
- ✓Proven solution: pilot operation under real cold-store conditions before fleet conversion
Solution
Hellpower developed a lithium system with 24 V and 138 Ah — matched to the specific installation dimensions of the Linde tuggers. The existing installation space of the vehicles was used in full, so no modification of the vehicle structure was required.
The battery system was designed for the electrical and thermal demands of the cold storage environment: cell chemistry, BMS parameterisation and charging characteristics were selected to ensure the system operates stably and safely even at continuous sub-zero temperatures.
The rollout began with a pilot operation on six vehicles to validate the system under real cold-store conditions and collect operational data. The results were convincing: the expansion to six further vehicles is already under way.
Outcome
The lithium systems increased the runtime of the Linde tuggers by approximately 30 %. Charging cycles and charging times were reduced by around 20 %. The vehicles remain fully operational even during continuous duty under extreme cold-store conditions — the performance drops seen with lead-acid batteries no longer occur.
Maintenance effort fell noticeably and warehouse planning became more stable: energy-related stoppages are now the exception rather than the rule. The pilot operation with six vehicles confirmed the projection — the ongoing expansion to the next six vehicles demonstrates confidence in the solution.
Technical background
→ Batteries at extreme temperatures
Cold storage and heat: how lithium batteries cope with temperature extremes
→ Lithium batteries for intralogistics
Solution overview for AGV, AMR and FTS
→ Lifespan, cycles, SoH
What determines the service life of a lithium battery
→ LiFePO4 vs. Li-NMC
Which cell chemistry suits which application