During the lowering process of the forklift lifting device, a large amount of gravitational potential energy of the cargos and lifting device is wasted due to the throttling effect of control valve, resulting in a large amount of energy loss. Therefore, an energy recovery system of forklift lifting device based on open circuit pump controlled technology was proposed. The hydraulic pump was driven by using an electric motor to supply oil for the lift cylinder rodless chamber, and the supercapacitor was used as an energy storage unit to recover gravitational potential energy. The mathematical model and simulation model of the proposed system were established, and the operation and energy efficiency characteristics of the proposed system were analyzed in detail. The results show that the proposed system can be used to ensure the stable operation of the forklift lifting device; compared with traditional lifting system, the system can save 23.6%~57.8% energy according to the different mass of cargos.