Battery Operated Transfer Trolleys: Cable-Free Coil Movement

A battery operated transfer trolley moves coils, slabs, dies and general plant loads with no trailing cable and no fixed power rail, drawing its travel power from an onboard battery pack that is charged between shifts or during natural gaps in the duty cycle.

The problem it solves

A conventional motorised transfer trolley takes its power from a cable reel or a busbar, and both tie the machine to a fixed route. A cable reel limits the run to the cable's length and needs a cable trench or guard; a busbar has to be installed along the whole route and cannot cross a gangway or a doorway without a break. A battery operated transfer trolley carries its own power, so it can run the full length of a bay, cross a road between two sheds, and serve several pickup and drop points on one route.

Lithium iron phosphate or lead-acid

Both pack types are offered on the same machine. Lead-acid is cheaper up front, well understood by any plant electrician and easy to source anywhere; its drawback is weight and a charge time of eight hours or more, which in practice means a spare pack or an overnight charge. Lithium iron phosphate costs more per kWh but accepts opportunity charging in short breaks, holds its voltage under load and lasts several times as many cycles. A three-shift plant nearly always ends up on lithium; a single-shift stockyard is often better served by lead-acid.

Rail-mounted or trackless

Running gear is chosen on the same basis as the power. Rail-mounted steel wheels carry the heaviest loads, 100 to 150 ton, with the least rolling resistance, and follow a fixed route with no steering. Trackless polyurethane wheels on a level concrete floor suit loads up to roughly 50 ton and let the trolley be steered between stations, which is why they appear in die shops and fabrication halls rather than rolling mills. The comparison in fixed-rail vs mobile coil transfer systems covers the layout side of that choice.

Endurance and charging

A pack is sized to the duty, not to a catalogue figure: loaded travel distance per cycle, cycles per shift, and any gradient on the route. Typical builds give six to eight hours of continuous work per charge, and an onboard battery monitor shows remaining charge to the operator and to the plant network if required. Chargers are supplied to match the plant supply and the pack chemistry.

What to send with an enquiry

The load, the route with its length and any gradients or crossings, the shift pattern, and the deck form needed, V-frame for coils, U-frame for pots, or flat for palletised loads. From those our engineers size the pack, the motors and the running gear together, since each affects the other two.

Frequently asked questions

Export Availability

An exported battery trolley ships with its pack disconnected and packed to the applicable dangerous-goods rules for lithium or lead-acid cells, with the charger built for the destination's supply voltage and frequency. Trackless units on polyurethane wheels are a frequent export choice because they need no rail installation at the buyer's site, only a level concrete floor.

Manufactured at Pragya's Pithampur (Indore) works and exported to steel mills worldwide — 22+ countries across 5 continents to date. Every export order ships with mill test certificates, ocean-freight packing, and full customs documentation, quoted FOB or CIF.