Capital Equipment News April 2019

The development of JCB’s 19C-1 E-Tec was spearheaded by company Chairman Lord Bamford who personally heralded its arrival as a “real breakthrough” for the construction sector.

be made on what a diesel-free future means for construction equipment, Low Emission Zones (LEZs) in the developed world currently provide an insight into how urban construction projects can have a less harmful effect on air quality right now. The European Union sets emission standards that define the acceptable amount of pollution that can be emitted by the exhaust of a vehicle sold in the EU and EEA member states. Depending on the area, vehicles with higher emissions either cannot enter the area at all, or have to pay a fee if they do. To avoid the expense – real or perceived – of having to pay fees to bring construction machines into restricted areas, construction equipment firms have increasingly been asked by customers to fit a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) to machines, to reduce the diesel particulate matter (black soot) from the exhaust gas of a diesel engine. “In recent years, there has been a definite upswing in requests for DPFs to be fitted to machines that are working in urban development and don’t have them as standard,” says Kurt Deleu, director of regional sales support (Europe) at Volvo CE. “But it’s important to mention, this is not always a clear legal requirement (of working in the LEZ).” DPFs are currently seen as an extra precaution in response to a perceived need to meet regulations in LEZs. But as regulations around LEZs continue to become stricter, it’s likely this trend will continue. In response to the growing need for the industry to clean up its act, leading construction equipment manufacturers have started commercial launches of their first fully electrical units, while some are still working on concepts. It is clear that initial strides into electromobility by construction equipment makers are anchored by compact gear, especially mini excavators and loaders. Some of the names that have already announced commercial launches include Bobcat, Volvo Construction Equipment and JCB. Caterpillar has also announced that it is working on its Concept 906 – a fully electric drive compact wheel loader powered by a zero emission lithium-ion battery.

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Initial strides into electromobility by construction equipment makers are anchored by compact equipment

Early last year, JCB announced it had developed its first ever electric digger in response to customer demands for a zero emissions machine which can work indoors, underground and close to people in urban areas

At bauma 2019, Bobcat launched its new E10e electric mini excavator, one of the industry’s first commercially available fully electric, zero tail swing mini excavators in the 1-t class

Volvo CE has announced that by mid-2020 it will begin to launch a range of electric compact excavators (EC15 to EC27) and wheel loaders (L20 to L28), stopping new diesel engine-based development of these models

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