Automation and Electrification Are the Future of Industrial Trucks

This resource covers the most transformative trends in the industrial truck market, including the adoption outlook, the dominance of electric trucks, regional analyses, growth drivers, and prominent challenges.

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Industrial Truck Market Update

After seeing a downturn in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic challenges, the industrial truck market has rebounded. As warehouses and manufacturers emerged from the pandemic and consumer demand soared, they increasingly turned to industrial trucks. Industrial truck orders were 15.8% higher than shipments in 2021, with shipments not catching up until 2023. Autonomous industrial trucks are still in the early adopters stage, with scaled deployments only beginning to roll out. Automation is a bigger design focus for industrial truck Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Moreover, robotics vendors (OTTO Motors, Vecna Robotics, and Fox Robotics) offer autonomous industrial trucks via out-of-the-box or retrofitted trucks.

ABI Research forecasts total industrial truck shipments to grow at a modest Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 1.1% between 2024 and 2030. This brings annual shipments from 2.2 million to 2.4 million.

 

A notable trend in the market is the popularity of electric industrial trucks. This has been fueled by advancements in battery technology, in tandem with the sustainability goals of large OEMs and end users. E-trucks will account for 71% of the 2.2 million total industrial truck shipments in 2024, reaching 88% by 2030. Some OEMs, such as the KION Group, are ahead of the electrification curve, with more than 90% of its trucks shipped now electric.

Regionally speaking, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa will experience the fastest growth rates through 2030, with Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGRs) of 8.2% and 15.8%, respectively. Asia-Pacific will have a more modest 2.3% CAGR. Meanwhile, ABI Research forecasts a decline in annual shipments of industrial trucks in North America and Europe.

“Shipments of autonomous models will cannibalize the shipments of manually operated industrial trucks as companies gradually adopt the technology. The effect will occur much sooner in North America and Europe, around 2027, while the same effect will not occur to the same extent until the end of the decade and into the 2030s for the other regions.”  – Ryan Wiggin, Senior Analyst at ABI Research

Automated Industrial Trucks Are Gaining Traction

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) are already staples in the warehousing/manufacturing space. Automated industrial trucks, due to the greater difficulty in automating pallet picking operations and heavy material handling, have lagged behind in adoption. Despite this, momentum has gathered for autonomous industrial trucks, with Proof of Concept (PoC) projects from larger companies having concluded in 2023 and 2024. To date, autonomous industrial trucks have been primarily used for repetitive pick/put away, trailer loading/unloading, and pallet transport within warehouses.

Drivers for Industrial Truck Investment

Companies are turning to industrial truck technology for three main reasons: labor challenges, a greater acceptance of automated technologies in industry, and improved robot perception.

  • Labor Shortages: Compared to years ago, fewer young people are interested in making a career out of warehousing/manufacturing, which extends to forklift operations. Due to the requirement of forklift certification, part-time and agency staff is not a viable alternative to long-term employees. Organizations in North America and Europe are especially affected by this trend.
  • Broader Adoption of Automation in Industrial Settings: The deployment of AGVs and AMRs is no longer a niche concept; these robotics technologies are widely used in warehousing and manufacturing operations as they have proven track records. This technological maturity has made enterprises more comfortable with automated solutions like industrial trucks.
  • Improvements in Robot Perception: Advancements in robot perception have transformed automated industrial trucks from AGVs to AMRs. As a result, industrial trucks can perform a wider range of tasks and use cases.

What’s Stopping the Widescale Adoption of Industrial Trucks?

Key barriers to industrial truck adoption include hefty costs, questions regarding Return on Investment (ROI), and worker safety concerns.

  • High Costs: While retrofitting existing equipment and Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) are helping reduce costs, the high price tag of industrial trucks causes many technology decision-makers to hesitate to approve purchases. From their point of view, why take this financial risk when we already have equipment that works?
  • Unknown Return on Investment (ROI): Another key barrier to industrial truck adoption is the lack of ROI clarity. End users are concerned about how long it will take, if at all, for an industrial truck to become profitable for their business. Robotics vendors must continue to offer ROI guarantees to alleviate these concerns.
  • Safety Concerns: Although staff in warehouses and manufacturing plants are already comfortable working alongside AGVs and AMRs, heavy industrial trucks are a different animal. AGVs and AMRs typically carry light payloads, minimizing the risk of bodily injury. A heavy forklift transporting full pallets, on the other hand, can cause more significant anxiety due to the severity of a potential accident. Implementing industrial truck telematics solutions that enhance safety will be essential for workers to feel safer with heavy-picking solutions. Currently, just 21% of the industrial trucks deployed in North America and Europe have a telematics solution installed, reflecting a huge opportunity for telematics providers. Beyond supporting workplace safety, telematics solutions for industrial trucks can also track equipment, monitor performance, and improve operations.

Key Companies

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Download ABI Research’s Industrial Lift Truck Market: Key Trends and Expanding Automation report to evaluate industrial truck technologies' current and future outlook and identify potential solutions and partnerships.