With all the hype around electric cars and trucks, I went looking for electric equipment at The National Diesel Direct and Turf Expo in Sydney last week and found very little enthusiasm for alternative fuels and electric powertrains.
Komatsu did have two machines on display (PC210 LCE and PC30E) which were prototypes and not yet on sale. Scott Berry, National Business Manager – Construction, was able to provide some insights into this new technology.
“It’s a proof of concept machine (PC210 LCE). It’s not in production anywhere in the world yet,” explained Berry. “There’s been about 10 or 12 of them made. Some have gone to the US, some have gone to Europe, and a couple are coming here.”
“This one has just arrived. It’s going to be on static display around the country. We’ve got another one that’s going to go to work, and it’s going to be used. It’s based on a PC210 so it’s the same boom, hydraulics, cabin, but it’s still got the same hydraulic pump, but pump is run by an electric motor. So essentially, it’s all the same, but run by electric.”
Komatsu has committed to halving CO2 emissions from 2010 levels by 2030 and will work to achieve net zero CO2 emissions (carbon neutrality) by 2050.
Fleet Managers should also be planning to reduce fleet emissions rather than going electric because there are questions about the right powertrain depending on the application and the answer isn’t simple with plant and equipment.
Kobelco, a specialist excavator manufacturer, didn’t have any electric excavators on display though reducing emissions through reduced fuel consumption is meeting the goals of their customers.
Chris Wolf, General Manager – Marketing & Direct Sales at Kobelco Australia, explained that they are looking at electric technology for the future, but they are also looking at what the market wants right now.
“One of our core mission statements has been to achieve a low carbon society,” said Wolf. “For the last 20 years we’ve had that as a core mission and value of Kobelco.”
“And the way that you achieve lower carbon emissions when it comes to construction equipment, with the technology that exists today, carbon emissions is 100% correlated to the amount of fuel that the engine burns. So that’s the best way to reduce your carbon footprint with existing technologies today.”
“When you get into heavy excavators, it doesn’t appear that electric is terribly practical for that application is what we what our customers tell us. So the best way to achieve carbon reduction would be to burn less fuel to have a more fuel efficient machine and for a long time.”
“Kobelco has been regarded as the benchmark in the industry for fuel efficiency. So we’ve got an extremely fuel efficient engine and an extremely fuel efficient hydraulic system. I routinely hear (from customers) at 20% less fuel than a comparable size 50 tonne excavator in brand for instance.”
“And we don’t have an electric excavator. We’ve demonstrated in some of the global trade shows around the industry. We’ve exhibited prototypes, and we’ve partnered with companies that can offer electric powered 5 tonne and 1.7 tonne for instance, but we don’t find them to be commercially viable right now. So we don’t we don’t have this commercially available in any market.”
