Capital Equipment News November 2020

Volvo CE is one of the first construction equipment manufacturers to commit to an electric future for its compact machine range with the commercial launch of the ECR25 mini excavator.

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 JCB, Bobcat and Volvo Construction Equipment. Caterpillar last year 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. Commenting on why the compact excavator space is leading the road to electromobility, Andrew Boyers, GM – Africa at JCB, says the market potential for this range of equipment is massive, and includes indoor working (where the need for diesel fume extraction is avoided) and quiet urban working, among others. “More companies – especially utilities, who use many compact machines – are wanting environmentally friendly products. The energy requirement – battery size – for a full day’s shift is easier and more cost-effective to package on a machine which typically doesn’t run 8 – 10 hours in a working day, like say, a heavy excavator on a large construction site,” explains Boyers.

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

In early 2018, 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 E10e electric mini excavator, one of the industry’s first commercially available fully electric, zero tail swing mini excavators in the 1-t class

By mid-2020, Volvo CE started to roll out 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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