When we think about electric vehicles, our minds instantly go to cars, or maybe trucks, but there’s the reality is that all petrol and diesel-powered vehicle types need to go electric.
Chinese company Breton is going after the challenge of making some larger vehicles into EVs.
Twitter user @DKurac, web media researcher in China, reported earlier this month, that the first of 1,500 front-end loaders have rolled off the production line in Shandong.
The bold, green loaders are said to be capable of a 5 tonne payload with 160kW electric motor that produces around 2,000 Nm of torque.
There’s no word on the battery size, but the operating time is expected to be 5 hours, with a 1 hour recharge time.
While the hour recharge time may sound inconvenient on a high-volume worksite, a long lunch may be an acceptable tradeoff for the zero-emissions and reduced operating noise.
The same attributes that make a electric car inviting, are also great assets for commercial vehicles. A dramatically reduced part list, combined with far less maintenance and running costs, mean the ongoing costs over the life of the vehicle are likely to make for overall savings, despite a higher up-front cost.
Back in March, machinery manufacturer CASE revealed “Project Zeus”, the 580 EV which leveraged a 90kWh lithium-ion battery pack, so the times, they are changing.
IDTechEx released a report on Electric Vehicles in Construction, Agriculture and Mining 2020-2030 earlier in the year and produced a YouTube video that walks through the current situation with industrial equipment and their transition to electric powertrains.
Via Inside EVs.
