A fixed jib crane has one motor that does real work and two that mostly fight friction. Here is where the power goes from 0.125 to 5 tonnes, why the electricity costs less than one service visit, and the two things that actually matter: the supply and the duty class.
A fixed jib crane from 0.125 to 5 tonnes burns roughly 2 to 380 kWh of running energy a year. At a tariff of USD 0.12 a kWh that is USD 0.25 to USD 46, which is less than one annual inspection on the same machine. On a pillar or wall jib the hoist takes 93 to 96% of that energy, the slewing drive takes 1.5 to 5%, and the trolley takes the rest. So when a buyer asks how to cut the power bill on a jib crane, the honest answer is: switch the isolator off at the end of the shift, and stop shopping for high-efficiency motors.
Start with the shape of the machine. A fixed jib has no long travel. The boom turns, but it does not travel anywhere, so the only motor that moves a load against gravity is the hoist. Everything else fights friction or inertia, and friction and inertia are cheap compared with lifting.
That is not true of every crane. A container yard crane with a 25 metre gantry span spends about 60% of its energy on the hoist, around 30% on the gantry and 7% on the trolley, idle time and losses (Aston University, analysis of energy usage for RTG cranes). A plant overhead crane lands around 55 to 75% on the hoist depending on how long its runway is. Take the runway away and the hoist share climbs sharply, because there is nothing left to spend the energy on.
| Motion | Share on a fixed jib | Why it is what it is |
|---|---|---|
| Hoist, lifting and lowering | 93 - 96% | The only motion that does work against gravity |
| Slewing, if powered | 1.5 - 5% | Bearing friction and boom inertia, no height change; zero if the boom is pushed by hand |
| Trolley along the boom | 1 - 3% | Short strokes of 2 to 10 metres against rolling resistance only |
| Control, brake and standby | Outside the figures above | Runs whenever the machine is powered, not only when it moves. See the standby section. |
If you want the same split on a machine that does travel, our jib crane product page covers the three mounting types and what each one adds electrically.
A jib crane carries between two and four motors. The hoist is always there. The trolley motor is there if the load has to move along the boom rather than being dragged into position. The slewing drive is there only if the boom is powered. A wall jib of 3 metres reach is very often manual on slew and electric on the hoist, which is the cheapest combination there is.
The figures below come from published electric chain hoist data sheets, the same hardware that goes onto a jib, and are cross-checked against a 3 tonne column jib supplied with a wire rope hoist at 8 metres a minute, which carries a 7.5 kW lifting motor and a 0.8 kW travel motor.
| Capacity | Hoist motor | Lifting speed | Trolley motor | Slewing drive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.125 t | 0.25 - 0.4 kW chain | 6 - 8 m/min | Hand chain | Manual |
| 0.25 t | 0.4 - 0.75 kW chain | 6 - 8 m/min | 0.12 kW or hand chain | Manual |
| 0.5 t | 0.75 - 0.9 kW chain | 6.8 m/min | 0.12 kW | Manual or 0.25 kW |
| 1 t | 1.5 kW chain, 0.75 kW slow speed | 3.4 - 6.6 m/min | 0.4 kW | 0.25 - 0.55 kW |
| 2 t | 1.5 - 3.0 kW chain | 3.3 - 6.6 m/min | 0.4 kW | 0.4 - 0.75 kW |
| 3 t | 3.0 kW chain, 7.5 kW wire rope at 8 m/min | 4.4 - 8.0 m/min | 0.75 - 0.8 kW | 0.55 - 1.1 kW |
| 5 t | 3.0 kW chain at 2.7 m/min | 2.7 m/min | 0.75 - 0.8 kW | 0.75 - 1.5 kW |
Two things are worth noticing. The first is that lifting speed matters more than capacity: a 5 tonne chain hoist at 2.7 metres a minute and a 2 tonne hoist at 6.6 metres a minute both carry a 3 kW motor, because the power follows mass times speed, not mass alone. The second is that the slewing column is the most flexible number on the page, and it is the one buyers most often get wrong.
All three mounting types use the same hoists. What changes is how the boom moves and whether it travels.
| Mounting type | Rotation | Motors present | Structural requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pillar (free standing) | 180, 270 or 360 degrees | Hoist, trolley, slew (manual or powered) | Concrete foundation block and anchor bolts |
| Wall mounted | Usually up to 180 degrees | Hoist, trolley, slew is normally manual | A verified structural wall, not a panel wall |
| Wall travelling | As above, plus travel along the wall | Hoist, trolley, slew, travel 0.4 - 0.8 kW | A wall runway sized for the wheel loads |
Published pillar jib data puts the slew speed at 0.5 to 1 revolution a minute for capacities from 0.5 to 10 tonnes, with a lifting height of 3 to 12 metres on a 380 V, 50 Hz three phase supply, and slewing available in both manual and motorised form. A slower, gentler slew is not a compromise. It is what keeps the load from swinging.
Almost none, and the reason is worth understanding before you pay for a bigger gearmotor. Slewing a jib is friction work. The load does not rise, so no potential energy is stored, and the only losses are in the slew bearing, the gearbox and the wheels of the trolley running on the boom.
We model the friction torque at the slew ring as about 0.4% of the gross load moment. On a 5 tonne jib with a 6 metre reach that is about 1.2 kNm, which matches the manual pull most jib manuals publish for that size: roughly 200 N at the boom tip. Here is the same calculation across the range.
| Capacity and radius | Gross load moment | Friction torque at the slew ring | Energy per 90 degree turn | Gearmotor we would specify |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 t at 3 m | 14.7 kNm | 59 Nm | 0.00004 kWh | 0.25 kW |
| 1 t at 4 m | 39.2 kNm | 157 Nm | 0.00010 kWh | 0.25 - 0.4 kW |
| 2 t at 4 m | 78.5 kNm | 314 Nm | 0.00020 kWh | 0.4 - 0.55 kW |
| 3 t at 5 m | 147 kNm | 589 Nm | 0.00037 kWh | 0.55 - 0.75 kW |
| 5 t at 6 m | 294 kNm | 1,177 Nm | 0.00073 kWh | 0.75 - 1.5 kW |
Those gearmotor sizes look large next to the friction torque, and that is the point worth taking away. The motor does not have to beat friction. It has to accelerate the boom and the load up to speed and then stop them. On a 5 tonne jib at 6 metres, getting the boom from rest to 1 revolution a minute in three seconds takes roughly 6,900 Nm at the slew ring, about six times the friction torque, and about 0.7 kW of accelerating power. Specify the slew drive on the load moment and the cycle time, not on the steady state torque, or you will fit a motor that stalls every time the operator starts a swing with the load at full reach.
The energy in a single lift is mass times gravity times height, divided by the efficiency of the hoist. We use 0.85 for a chain hoist, which covers the gearbox, the chain and the hook block. The table below uses a 50% load factor and a 3 metre lift, with a trolley run of 3 metres and a 90 degree slew, and gives the total for a full cycle.
| Capacity (50% load) | Hoist | Slew 90 degrees | Trolley 3 m | Full cycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.125 t | 0.0006 kWh | 0.00002 kWh | 0.00001 kWh | 0.0006 kWh |
| 0.5 t | 0.0024 kWh | 0.00004 kWh | 0.00005 kWh | 0.0025 kWh |
| 1 t | 0.0048 kWh | 0.0001 kWh | 0.0001 kWh | 0.0050 kWh |
| 2 t | 0.0096 kWh | 0.0002 kWh | 0.0002 kWh | 0.010 kWh |
| 3 t | 0.0144 kWh | 0.0004 kWh | 0.0003 kWh | 0.015 kWh |
| 5 t | 0.024 kWh | 0.0007 kWh | 0.0005 kWh | 0.025 kWh |
A 5 tonne jib doing a full cycle every two minutes for eight hours would still only use about 6 kWh of running energy in that shift. A domestic kettle uses more in ten minutes of boiling. That is why we push buyers towards the jib crane specification that matches the cycle, and away from energy upgrades that cannot pay for themselves on a machine this size.
Duty class is the single biggest variable in the calculation, and it is set long before anyone thinks about motors. The published jib crane duty bands put A3 at up to about one operating hour a day and 15 lifts, A4 at one to two hours and 30 lifts, and A5 at two to four hours and 60 lifts. Using 250 working days a year, that gives the annual running energy below.
| Capacity | A3, 3,750 lifts | A4, 7,500 lifts | A5, 15,000 lifts | A5 cost at USD 0.12/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.125 t | 2.4 kWh | 4.7 kWh | 9.4 kWh | USD 1.13 |
| 0.5 t | 9.3 kWh | 18.7 kWh | 37.5 kWh | USD 4.50 |
| 1 t | 18.8 kWh | 37.6 kWh | 75.1 kWh | USD 9.01 |
| 2 t | 37.5 kWh | 75.0 kWh | 150.0 kWh | USD 18.00 |
| 3 t | 56.6 kWh | 113.3 kWh | 226.5 kWh | USD 27.18 |
| 5 t | 94.9 kWh | 189.8 kWh | 379.5 kWh | USD 45.54 |
Capacities and tariff vary by market, and the machine does not care much. What moves the number is the number of lifts. A 0.5 tonne jib on A5 uses four times the energy of the same jib on A3, and it still only costs about USD 4.50 a year.
Ten years of electricity, escalated at 3% a year, is the number a finance department will actually ask about. We use an escalation factor of 11.46 over ten years. The equipment price band comes from our own jib crane cost guide, where pillar and wall mounted machines run from about USD 1,600 to USD 9,500 depending on capacity, reach and hoist type.
| Machine | 10 year electricity | Equipment price | Electricity as share of equipment price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.125 t, A3 | 27 kWh, USD 3.30 | USD 1,600 | 0.2% |
| 1 t, A4 | 431 kWh, USD 51.70 | USD 3,000 - 4,500 | 1.2 - 1.7% |
| 3 t, A5 | 2,596 kWh, USD 311.50 | USD 6,000 - 7,500 | 4.2 - 5.2% |
| 5 t, A5 | 4,349 kWh, USD 521.90 | USD 9,500 | 5.5% |
Under 6% of the purchase price over ten years, even on the most heavily used machine in the range. Compare that with a double girder overhead crane on A7 duty, where ten years of electricity can exceed the purchase price of the crane itself. The difference is not efficiency. It is the number of hours, the mass being moved and the length of the travel. A jib crane simply does not run long enough for electricity to become an ownership cost.
Published guidance on jib crane maintenance puts annual upkeep at USD 1,800 to USD 5,000, with a single professional inspection at USD 500 to USD 1,000 and lubrication and consumables at USD 500 to USD 2,000 a year. Crane technician labour runs USD 50 to USD 150 an hour. Set that against the energy figures above.
| Annual cost item | Range | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Running electricity | USD 0.30 - 46 | 0.125 t at A3 to 5 t at A5, at USD 0.12/kWh |
| Standby electricity if left powered | USD 8 - 32 | 70 to 263 kWh a year from control and brake circuits |
| Annual inspection | USD 500 - 1,000 | Structural, electrical and hoist check |
| Lubricants and consumables | USD 500 - 2,000 | Grease, chain oil, brake and switch parts |
| Total published maintenance range | USD 1,800 - 5,000 | Roughly 40 to 100 times the electricity bill |
That is the whole argument in one table. A jib crane that is down for a shift costs more than a decade of its own electricity. Spend the effort on the hoist selection, the foundation, the inspection interval and the spare brake, and let the kWh look after itself.
There is a real exception, and it is the only one worth acting on. A jib crane that stays powered draws current even when it is not moving: the control transformer, the contactor coil, the brake rectifier and the pendant indicator all sit energised.
| Component | Typical draw |
|---|---|
| Control transformer | 3 - 8 W |
| Contactor coil | 2 - 5 W |
| Brake rectifier | 1 - 3 W |
| Pendant indicator and VFD, if fitted | 2 - 14 W |
| Total, powered around the clock | 8 - 30 W, 70 to 263 kWh a year |
On a small jib at light duty this dwarfs the running energy. A 0.5 tonne machine at A3 uses 9.3 kWh a year of lifting and can burn 70 to 260 kWh simply by being left switched on between shifts. Turning the isolator off at the end of the shift is the largest single saving available on a jib crane, it costs nothing to implement, and no motor upgrade comes close to it.
This is where the electrical question actually bites, and it is a question about starting, not about consumption. Full load current for a three phase 400 V hoist motor, at a power factor of 0.8 and an efficiency of 0.85, comes to about 1.6 A per kilowatt of motor rating. The table below turns that into a supply plan.
| Hoist motor | Full load current at 400 V | Breaker we would fit | Supply cable | Starting current, direct on line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.4 kW, 0.25 t jib | 0.85 A | 6 A, D curve | 4 x 1.5 mm² | 5 - 7 A |
| 0.9 kW, 0.5 t jib | 1.9 A | 10 A, D curve | 4 x 1.5 mm² | 11 - 15 A |
| 1.5 kW, 1 t jib | 3.2 A | 10 A, D curve | 4 x 1.5 mm² | 19 - 26 A |
| 3.0 kW, 2 to 3 t jib | 6.4 A | 16 A, D curve | 4 x 2.5 mm² | 38 - 51 A |
| 7.5 kW, 3 t wire rope jib | 15.9 A | 25 A, D curve | 4 x 4 mm² | 95 - 127 A |
Cable size on a jib is not set by voltage drop. Work the numbers and you will see why. IEC 60364-5-52 Annex G recommends keeping voltage drop within 5% for a motor final circuit, and gives the calculation as the three phase current multiplied by the loop impedance and the system factor. At 3.2 A over 30 metres of 1.5 mm² copper that comes to about 0.4% on steady state, and about 3.2% during a direct on line start, which the standard explicitly allows for motors during starting. In our experience the binding constraint on a jib feeder is mechanical protection and starting current, not the steady state drop, unless the run goes well past 150 metres.
Because the motor does not start at 3.2 A. A squirrel cage motor draws six to eight times its rated current when it is switched straight onto the supply, and published figures go as high as fourteen times, with a magnetising peak that can pass twenty times rated for a fraction of a cycle. A 1.5 kW hoist therefore presents 19 to 26 A for a second or two, and a 1.5 kW wire rope hoist with a heavier rotor can present more.
| Starting method | Starting current | When we use it |
|---|---|---|
| Direct on line contactor | 6 - 8 times rated, up to 14 | Default on chain hoists up to about 3 kW, with a D curve breaker |
| Star delta | 2 - 3 times rated | Delta connected motors from roughly 4 kW up |
| Electronic soft starter | 3 - 4 times rated | The lowest cost fix when a long or shared feeder trips on start |
| VFD | 1 - 1.5 times rated, ramp controlled | When slow speed, soft stop or a smaller supply is needed |
Three practical consequences. First, fit a D curve breaker or a motor protective circuit breaker on a hoist feeder, not a domestic B curve. Second, if several jibs share one distribution board, do not add the starting currents together; jib cranes are intermittent, and a diversity factor is the normal engineering answer for a group of them, but the largest single starter still has to be covered. Third, an overload relay set to Class 10 will trip after about ten seconds at six times full load current, which is the setting that protects the motor without tripping on a normal heavy start.
Yes, sometimes, but never for the electricity. Run the arithmetic on the energy side first. A 1.5 kW hoist on a 1 tonne jib at A4 uses about 38 kWh a year. Take a generous 15% saving from variable speed control and you have 5.7 kWh, worth about USD 0.68. A fitted VFD for a small hoist costs USD 250 to 600. On energy alone the payback is measured in centuries.
| Reason to fit a VFD | Energy saving | What you are really buying |
|---|---|---|
| Cut the power bill | About USD 0.68 a year on a 1.5 kW hoist | Nothing. Do not buy it for this. |
| Start on a weak or long supply | None directly | Starting current drops from 6 to 8 times rated to 1 to 1.5 times, which can let you keep the existing breaker and cable |
| Load control and positioning | None | Slow speed for machine loading, soft stop, less swing, longer brake life |
| Reduce mechanical wear | None | Smoother acceleration, fewer shock loads in the gearbox and slew bearing |
If someone is selling you a drive on the strength of the kWh figure, ask them for the annual saving in kWh. On a jib crane the answer will be in single digits, and it will not cover the drive.
It applies, and it is largely irrelevant, which is worth knowing so that nobody sells you an efficiency upgrade you do not need. Since 1 July 2021, three phase motors from 0.12 to 0.75 kW must reach at least IE2 and motors from 0.75 to 1,000 kW must reach at least IE3. From 1 July 2023, motors from 75 to 200 kW have had to reach IE4 unless they are brake motors, explosion protected or otherwise outside scope. A jib hoist sits in the 0.75 to 3 kW band, so the IE3 requirement applies to it. A brake motor of the type used on a hoist is exempt from the IE4 step, which is why the IE4 conversation mostly belongs to large process drives.
| 4 pole motor | IE2 | IE3 | IE4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.75 kW | 80.7% | 82.5% | 85.7% |
| 1.1 kW | 82.7% | 84.1% | 87.2% |
Now put a duty cycle behind it. A 1.1 kW hoist running 500 hours a year at realistic part load uses roughly 480 kWh. Stepping from IE3 to IE4 at that size saves about 14 kWh a year, or USD 1.70. The motor will have paid for itself in a decade and a half, and only if the price difference is small. Buy the correct tier because the regulation requires it. Do not pay a premium for the next tier up.
Ranked by return, on a machine whose whole running energy costs less than one service visit.
| Priority | Action | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isolate the crane at the end of the shift | Removes 70 to 263 kWh a year, and costs nothing |
| 2 | Set the duty class from the real cycle count | A3 to A5 is a fourfold difference in running energy and a large difference in hoist price |
| 3 | Match lifting speed to the job | A 5 t hoist at 2.7 m/min needs 3 kW; the same capacity at 8 m/min needs 7.5 kW |
| 4 | Keep slewing manual on booms under about 3 m | Removes 1.5 to 5% of the energy and one motor from the maintenance list |
| 5 | Size the breaker, cable and contactor for the starting current | No kWh saving, but it prevents the nuisance trips that stop production |
| 6 | Fit a soft starter only if the supply is marginal | Starting current drops from 6 to 8 times rated to 3 to 4 times |
| Do not buy | IE4 hoist motors, regenerative drives, power factor correction | All three are rounding errors on a machine that uses 2 to 380 kWh a year |
Fit a kWh meter on the crane feeder, count the lifts for a representative week, and divide. That gives you kWh per 100 lifts, which is the only number on a jib crane worth tracking. Do it once when the machine is commissioned and once a year after that. A rise of more than about 15% between readings usually means a dragging brake, a dry slew bearing or a worn trolley wheel, not a fault in the motor. On a machine this small, the meter is a condition monitoring tool long before it is an energy tool.
What you will not see, if you try, is a big number. Realistic interventions on a jib crane move the annual figure by single digit dollars. The value of the exercise is that it tells you when a mechanical problem is costing you money, and that is worth far more than the kWh line on the bill.
If you send us your lift data, tariff and supply details, we will model the running energy and the electrical package against them before you commit to a hoist, a slewing drive or a control option. Our jib cranes from 0.125 to 5 tonnes are quoted with chain or wire rope hoists, manual or powered slewing, and contactor or VFD control. For the cost side of the same picture, the jib crane cost and total cost of ownership guide covers equipment price, installation and the ten year total, and the sizing and selection guide covers capacity, radius and duty class.
Lift energy is mass in kilograms multiplied by 9.81 and by the lift height in metres, divided by the hoist efficiency, which we take as 0.85 for a chain hoist. Cycle energy adds the slewing and trolley work. Slewing energy is the friction torque at the slew ring multiplied by the angle turned and divided by the gearmotor efficiency, and we model the friction torque as 0.4% of the gross load moment. Trolley work is the rolling resistance at a coefficient of 0.012 multiplied by the distance travelled.
Annual energy multiplies cycle energy by the number of lifts, using 250 working days a year and the published duty bands of 15, 30 and 60 lifts a day for A3, A4 and A5. Motors, hoist speeds and motor powers come from published electric chain hoist data sheets and from a published 3 tonne column jib with a wire rope hoist. Industrial electricity is charged at USD 0.12 a kWh as a mid range reference; the published averages we work with are EUR 0.199 for the EU, EUR 0.082 for China and USD 0.075 for the United States in 2024, with the US industrial average at 9.17 US cents in June 2026 per the US Energy Information Administration. Starting current multiples and soft starter figures come from ABB starter documentation and from published soft starter application notes; voltage drop guidance comes from IEC 60364-5-52 Annex G; motor efficiency tiers come from EU Regulation 2019/1781 and IEC 60034-30-1.
The energy shares, cycle energies and ten year electricity figures in this article are our own planning estimates for a fixed jib crane, not published statistics, and they should be re-run against your own cycle count and tariff before any capital decision.
A fixed jib crane from 0.125 to 5 tonnes uses roughly 2 to 380 kWh of running energy a year, which is USD 0.25 to USD 46 at USD 0.12 a kWh. The low end is a small jib on light duty and the high end is a 5 tonne machine on A5 with 15,000 lifts a year. Add 70 to 263 kWh if the crane stays powered around the clock, which is often the larger figure. Details are in the duty class and standby sections above, and our jib crane range is quoted with the duty class you specify.
Because a direct on line start draws six to eight times the full load current, and up to fourteen times on some motors. A 1.5 kW hoist with a full load current of 3.2 A presents 19 to 26 A for a second or two, which will trip a domestic B curve breaker. Fit a D curve breaker or a motor protective circuit breaker sized for the motor, and check the cable run if the trip only happens at one end of the building.
It depends on the reach, not on the energy. A powered slew removes 1.5 to 5% of the running energy only if you would otherwise push the boom by hand, which is a saving worth single digit dollars a year. The real argument is ergonomics and cycle time: a 5 metre boom carrying 2 tonnes is hard to place accurately by hand, and a powered drive with a soft stop reduces swing. On booms under about 3 metres we usually recommend keeping it manual.
More than the arithmetic suggests, because a jib crane is intermittent. Do not add the starting currents together. Size the board on the largest single starter plus a diversity allowance for the rest, then check the cable and the breaker for that largest starter. A 16 A circuit will happily feed several small jibs on light duty, while a single 7.5 kW wire rope hoist needs a 25 A circuit on its own.
Not in any way you will notice. A 1.5 kW hoist on A4 uses about 38 kWh a year, so a generous 15% saving is 5.7 kWh, or about USD 0.68. A fitted drive costs USD 250 to 600. Buy a VFD for the controlled acceleration, the slow speed or the soft stop, or because the supply cannot take a direct on line start, and treat the energy saving as a rounding error.
Switching the isolator off when the bay is idle. A jib left powered draws 8 to 30 W continuously through its control transformer, contactor coil and brake rectifier, which is 70 to 263 kWh a year, and on a small jib at light duty that can be ten to thirty times the running energy. It costs nothing and beats every motor or drive upgrade on the market.
Related articles:
Jib Crane Cost and Total Cost of Ownership Guide 2026: Price, Installation and 10-Year TCO
Jib Crane Sizing and Selection Guide: Capacity, Radius, Duty Class and Price
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Jib Crane Power Consumption: What a Traveling Jib Crane Really Draws, 0.25 to 2 Ton
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