Volvo Construction Equipment recently announced its first midsize electric wheel loader and excavator at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo, which will join its growing fleet of sustainable construction vehicles.
The L120 electric wheel loader and 23-ton EC230 electric excavator join the company's six other diesel-free alternatives, helping pave the way for a cleaner future in the heavily polluting building and construction sector, according to ChargedEVs.
Although the adoption of electric vehicles in the industry is still in its early stages, Ray Gallant, vice president of sustainability and productivity services at Volvo CE, said that "the changes are coming fast as we move into new product types and size classes."
"The EC230 and L120 electric models give our customers options for applications that require larger machines while delivering the benefits of zero emissions, reduced noise and less machine maintenance," he added.
The switch to electrics in the industry will make a big dent in the sector's planet-warming pollution. Most traditional heavy-duty vehicles use diesel fuel, which accounts for around 10% of all power-related carbon dioxide output.
Plus, communities near construction sites will appreciate the reduction in air and noise pollution that electric models provide, helping people quite literally breathe easier.
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The EC230 electric excavator has a run time of up to eight hours per charge due to its 650-volt lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 450 kilowatt-hours. It's also fast charger compatible, which means it can go from 20% to 80% with just one hour's charging.
The L120 electric wheel loader is a 22-ton machine that can lift 6 tons of material, making its performance capability nearly identical to conventional diesel machines. Its battery life ranges from five to nine hours on a charge, depending on the application, and fast charging can get you from empty to full in just two hours.
While electric vehicles require the mining of approximately 7.7 million tons of raw materials annually for their batteries, that's just a fraction of the 16.5 billion tons of dirty fuels extracted from the Earth.
Volvo CE is joined by other major equipment manufacturers such as New Holland and Hamm AG in accelerating the adoption of more sustainable electric vehicles for the construction industry and reducing the sector's long-standing pollution levels.
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Cost 💰 "We collaborate across Volvo Group on sustainable power and share learnings with each other," Gallant said.
"Those insights influence our engineering, help advance charging and much more — ultimately benefiting all of our customers and pushing our industries forward," he added.
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