Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

About Us

How we are helping to decarbonize society

How we are helping to decarbonize society

Feature3 How we are helping to decarbonize society

In light of the growing interest in the climate change issue, the movement toward carbon neutrality is accelerating around the world. In the logistics industry, demand continues to increase for more environment-friendly products and services that contribute to decarbonization and reduced CO2 emissions.
As a Japanese pioneer in the manufacture of electric forklift trucks, we have been active in the development of a wide range of eco-friendly products that contribute to decarbonization both in Japan and around the world. In an effort to popularize clean and energy-efficient electric forklifts, we are working to reduce electricity costs and power consumption and expand our electric forklift product line in order to meet the demand for alternatives to engine-powered forklifts. On the other hand, we recognize that engine-powered forklifts remain indispensable at many logistics sites. We will continue to develop and provide engine-powered forklifts that comply with current exhaust gas regulations.
In order to serve diverse logistics markets such as ports, warehouses, and factories, we will continue to develop and market products that offer the advantages of energy efficiency and decarbonization.

Engine forklift that complies with exhaust gas regulations

Initiatives

The EDiA XL, a high-performance electric forklift that meets the demand for an alternative to engine-powered forklift, is introduced on the European market

The EDiA XL (4.0–5.5t), a high-performance, medium-sized battery forklift introduced in 2021, has the power and performance to withstand the operating environment of an engine forklift and achieves the best power consumption in its class. The EDiA XL is the first counter-type, medium-sized electric forklift developed in-house in Europe, and we are developing it while directly listening to the needs of our customers, and manufacturing it is also carried out at our European base. In 2022, we also launched this model in the North American market.

Experiments and verification aimed at automating cargo handling operations
Experiments and verification aimed at automating cargo handling operations

Aiming for the global expansion of the EDiA XL project through cross-group collaboration

As the customers’ awareness of the forklift’s energy efficiency had been constantly growing, I was involved in this project as a manager for achieving pretty good level of efficiency. I had been involved in another EDiA series project, and this time I shared the knowledge about electric forklifts I had gained with other team members.
We faced many challenges during the project, such as the spread of the Covid-19, but we got good responses from our customers, and we can proudly say this project was a success.
In the future, we are looking to collaborate with the Mitsubishi Logisnext Group, which is expanding globally. We believe that by combining the best features of each region, we can generate better products and services that are competitive with our competitors.

Tuomo Kinnunen Manager, Concepts&Projects

Tuomo Kinnunen
Manager, Concepts&Projects(Position as of April 2024)

*These comments represent opinions, job roles, and departmental affiliations that were correct at the time.

Devising product designs that cooperate with humans and combine reliability and functionality

My role in this project was to use my expertise in 2D rendering for the conceptualization of the product. I had been involved in the design of other EDiA series, so I have gained a lot of experience in designing this type of the machine. It was difficult to design the EDiA XL, which is much larger and more powerful than conventional cars, but I learned a lot through the production and was able to grow as a designer.
With the help of electric forklifts, we can do our part in achieving the global climate goals. This reliable and functional product can cooperate with humans. We believe that it will lead to the well-being of our users.
In the future, we will continue to gain the trust of our customers by providing environmentally friendly products. Moreover, we will make designs that appeal to people.

Antti Asunmaa MLE Oy R&D, Järvenpää Finland

Antti Asunmaa
MLE Oy R&D, Järvenpää Finland(Position as of April 2024)

*These comments represent opinions, job roles, and departmental affiliations that were correct at the time.

Create products that function efficiently and provide the fun of transporting things

My role in this project was to balance the specifications that are feasible with current technology and user requirements , based on our target of delivering the best user experience. It was, however, very challenging to meet user requirements. we were able to create a floating and unified overhead guard, which we are proud to have contributed to improving the user experience and working environment.
The main thing I have focused on was to create products that customers on the site would choose with confidence. As a result, we were able to make products that not only work efficiently, but also provide users with the fun of transporting things.
In the future, we will continue to provide even better products so that we can give the best user experience for our customers.

Mikko Hietanen MLE Oy R&D, Industrial Designer

Mikko Hietanen
MLE Oy R&D, Industrial Designer(Position as of April 2024)

*These comments represent opinions, job roles, and departmental affiliations that were correct at the time.

Introducing the small, engine-powered ERSIS model, featuring a clean engine developed in-house

The new engine-powered ERSIS forklift, introduced in March 2022 and designed for the Japanese market, is equipped with an environment-friendly clean engine manufactured in-house. By utilizing and optimizing the technologies cultivated in passenger cars and applying them to industrial vehicles, we can support cargo handling operations that achieve both high environmental friendliness and excellent ease of use.
We will utilize key components developed in-house to benefit the environment.

ERSIS
ERSIS

Contributing to the carbon-neutral goals of ports with a new Rubber-Tired Gantry Crane

We have developed a new model of Rubber-Tired Gantry Crane (RTG) as an initiative to reduce CO2 emissions at ports. Compared to conventional units, this model reduces fuel consumption by more than 15% while also reducing emissions of CO2, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter, the latter two of which are air pollutants. This paves the way for the introduction of hydrogen fuel cells in the future. This innovation contributes to the realization of carbon-neutral ports,* an initiative being promoted by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

  • * A policy intended to contribute to the emergence of a decarbonized society through the advancement of decarbonized port operations. This policy is being considered for ports in six regions across Japan.
Contributing to the carbon-neutral goals of ports with a new Rubber-Tired Gantry Crane