Elwell-Parker's Zero Emissions Legacy
Green Forklifts and Material Handling Equipment: It's Who We Are
Long before the Prius, long before the Leaf, long before the Volt, and long before the latest Tesla, there was the Elwell-Parker Electric Company. In the late 19th century, before there was even an automobile industry, Elwell-Parker was building electric motors and batteries, the first of which it sold in England in 1882. In the 130-plus years since it created some of the world's first industrial batteries and dynamos, Elwell-Parker never abandoned its commitment to electric products. The company was designing motors and controllers for the Baker Motor Vehicle Company at the birth of the automobile industry in 1899. In 1906, Elwell-Parker invented electric material handling when it introduced the first-ever battery powered baggage truck. In 1914, Elwell-Parker developed one of the first electric lift trucks, and in 1919 the company helped introduce the first electric forklift truck.
Learn more about Elwell-Parker's electric material handling equipment:
- Electric Forklifts
- Coil Handling Equipment
- Die Handling Equipment
- Platform Trucks
- Automatic Guided Vehicles
Elwell-Parker designed electric motors for major American car manufacturers throughout the early 20th century, and in 1903 Elwell-Parker built a six-ton street truck that for over 20 years was the largest electric vehicle in the world. Elwell-Parker even produced gas-electric hybrid trucks nearly 90 years before they returned to the market in the late 1990s. Demand for Elwell-Parker motors, meanwhile, so outpaced the supply that in 1909 the Detroit Electric Car Company bought a controlling interest in Elwell-Parker just to secure its inventory.
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Even after interest in electric passenger vehicles declined in the 1920s, Elwell-Parker remained focused on the potential it saw in emissions-free vehicles. As a result of that tradition, there are Elwell-Parker electric material handling equipment with capacities ranging from as little as 500 pounds to as much as 400,000 pounds. Elwell-Parker electric vehicles were meeting modern emissions standards decades before the first regulations were drafted.
In many cases, those same vehicles are still in service and continue to meet those standards today. Elwell-Parker's green heritage is a 130-year-old living legacy that is built into every electric product that carries the Elwell-Parker name.
For parts and service, or to learn more about Elwell-Parker equipment, please call 1-800-272-9953 for additional information.