Houthandel Jan Sok recently took delivery of 5 new electric Bobcat forklifts for loading and unloading wood products and for logistics at its premises in Meppel and Wanneperveen. There the wood is unloaded with the forklifts, stored in racks and put down by the pack stock. The loads vary from pallets of light products to packages of beams 6 meters long weighing a few tons. Jan Sok’s electric forklifts are integral to the company’s goal of becoming completely self-sufficient in terms of energy management.
Houthandel Jan Sok supplies an extensive range of wood species and wood products, ranging from board material, planks, beams, partitions and sheet piling for construction, landscaping and gardening. In addition, the company sells a wide range of other products in its store in Meppel, such as fasteners, paint and tools for processing and assembling wood. In this respect, the store is similar to a hardware store. Three quarters of the products are supplied to companies and ZZP’ers and about a quarter to private individuals.
New Bobcat lift trucks
The wood, which Jan Sok buys, is unloaded at various ports in the Netherlands and Belgium and then transported by trucks to Wanneperveen. There is a storage area of about 2.5 hectares, from where the store in Meppel and the franchise branch in Joure are supplied. At the store in Meppel, the wood is unloaded with the forklift trucks, stored in racks and placed near the packing stock. Because the five forklifts purchased in 2020 were written off, Jan Sok decided to order new forklifts. They ended up returning to Ausma in Heerenveen, where the lumberyard had also purchased the previous forklifts. At the time, they were Doosan forklifts, but since that company became part of Bobcat, the forklifts have been sold under that brand name since 2024.
“We could do with the forklifts for longer, but we simply decided to buy new forklifts every five years to stay ahead of technical problems and extra costs for maintenance,” said Jan Sok, founder and owner of the lumberyard. “And because we are very satisfied with Ausma’s support, we saw no reason to change suppliers.” The Joure branch also recently purchased three new Bobcat forklifts. Incidentally, Jan Sok does most of the maintenance on the forklifts in-house.
168 solar panels
Unlike the previous order, this time the lumberyard deliberately chose electric forklifts of the B35X-7 Plus type. They are equipped with lithium-ion batteries and have a lifting capacity of 3,500 pounds. Initially, the switch to electric forklifts was motivated primarily by the fact that no facilities for storing and refueling diesel for the forklifts could be placed on the premises. Driving the forklifts several times a week to a filling station meant too much wasted time.
168 solar panels were installed on the roof of the lumberyard, which also provide ample electricity for charging the forklifts. Electric forklifts are very clean, which is a pleasant bonus for customers, who walk on the premises. Working with electric equipment is also more pleasant for staff. For his employees, Jan Sok has deliberately chosen a more elaborate version that includes luxury seats and seat heating.
Self-sufficient
Jan Sok has invested heavily in its own energy supply. The goal is to eventually become completely self-sufficient. With 168 solar panels on the roof, heat pumps to heat the building and batteries to provide power in the evening and at night, that is currently working out quite well.
Loading the forklifts is done exclusively during the day, by the way. Jan Sok: “If it’s not necessary to load them in the evening why would you do that? Daytime loading is safer because there is always supervision. In view of the abolition of the net-metering scheme, it is also much more efficient to use the solar energy generated by the company directly. The forklifts do not run continuously, so we have enough time to charge them during the day. Half an hour of charging on break is usually long enough to use them for the whole ten-hour workday.
An exception is the high season in March/April. Then the forklifts run almost full time. During those months, there is an extra forklift on standby, which the forklift drivers can use when the batteries of another forklift need recharging.