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Providing users a run time of roughly four hours of continuous operation on its lithium-ion battery pack, each of the battery-electric excavators can be fully recharged overnight. The E10e and the E19e have standard 120-volt outlets, whereas the E32e has a 240-volt outlet.

“Although applications vary, each of the excavators’ charges can support common, daily work operations and a full day of operation during intermittent use or a typical contractor workday,” said Mike Wetzel, director of product management, excavators, Bobcat Company.

“With the introduction of our all-electric compact track loader, the Bobcat T7X, as well as our batteryelectric excavator lineup, which is, again, comprised of the E10e, E19e and E32e, we’re reaffirming our commitment to offering more environmentallysustainable products,” Honeyman said. “And we’re doing so without sacrificing performance.”

He added, “We have many customers who have their own Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals, and our battery-electric excavators support environmentally conscious customers, while still delivering dieselequivalent machines’ performance and power too.”

Keys To Product Development And Engineering

Earlier this year, Takeuchi announced that the first 100 units of its TB20e, an electric compact excavator, will be available at various United Rentals locations across North America. Built by Takeuchi itself, the battery-powered excavator is the first product to be released in the company’s anticipated full lineup of electric products, which will be created to meet its ESG goals.

Offering the same performance that Takeuchi’s diesel-powered TB216 compact excavator does, the TB20e is 100% battery powered, enabling it to provide lower noise and vibration levels than the diesel-powered compact excavator, while also emitting no exhaust emissions. And when it’s completely charged, the TB20e provides a continuous working time, which ranges from four to eight hours, fully dependent on the application and environment in which it’s utilized in.

The electric compact excavator has a bucket capacity of 1.34 cubic feet, along with a primary auxiliary flow of 9.0 gpm. Furthermore, it has a reach of up to 13 feet and 4 inches, as well as a digging depth of 7 feet and 10 inches, at most. To ensure its operators remain as comfortable as possible, the TB20e also has a spacious station that features a high-definition, multi-informational color display.

“United Rentals and Takeuchi have a long history together, [so] we’re pleased to be the first to offer the environmentally-friendly TB20e excavator,” said TJ Mahoney, vice president, supply chain, United Rentals. “Not only does [the excavator] provide our customers a more sustainable equipment option, it’s also more cost efficient to operate.”

“The product and market development for the TB20e took place in North America, so it made sense to debut the machine here as well,” added Clay Eubanks, director of global sales, Takeuchi. “We’re excited to see how [United Rentals’] customers react to this new environmentally friendly excavator.”

Meanwhile, Caterpillar—which has been dedicated to working on electrification for the last 30 years—is focused on increasing the power of some of its high-volume loader and excavator product lines. As an example of this dedication, in October, the company showcased a variety of fully electric prototype machines at bauma 2022. From a sustainability standpoint, one excavator especially stood out: the Cat 301.9 electric mini-excavator. Providing users a Cat 48V, 32kWh battery, the excavator has a run time of up to eight hours on one charge; this run time declines to five hours during continuous trenching though.

“Each machine will also include an onboard AC charger, which will enable it to be charged overnight,” said Corne Timmermans, vice president, sales and marketing, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Caterpillar. “We’re also planning on providing DC fast charging options that customers can utilize during their break times.”

Both of the excavators are anticipated to be available for customers in regions of Europe and North America within the coming years, as the Cat 301.9 electric mini-excavator is expected to be the first commercially available electric excavator offering.

At the same time, Caterpillar has also issued seven sustainability goals that it’s striving to achieve by 2030. The goals will vary considerably in their focal points over the next eight years, ranging from reducing absolute greenhouse gas emissions from its operations by 30%, to decreasing its landfill intensity by 50%.

“We have set a goal to have 100% of the new products that are released through 2030 be more sustainable than the previous generation,” stressed Jason Conklin, senior vice president, global construction and infrastructure, Caterpillar. “To achieve this goal, we will collaborate with customers, decrease waste, enhance the design for rebuilding and remanufacturing, lower emissions and improve our efficiency.”

Caterpillar has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by significant percentages through the development, manufacturing, marketing and selling of electric and hybrid-powered equipment, including excavators.

As an example of Caterpillar’s sustainability initiatives’ results, he added that “100% of [the] new products introduced in 2021 were more sustainable than previous generations.”

As Ray Gallant, vice president, product management and productivity, Volvo Construction Equipment, looks ahead to the evolution of zero-emission heavy construction equipment, he believes manufacturers need to realize a crucial fact. The key response to electrification or sustainable power isn’t just a single technical solution, but a variety of solutions that manufacturers will need to develop and then “bring into play.”

“Volvo Construction Equipment is working with technologies such as battery-electric, hybrid, hydrogen fuel cells and alternate fuels like hydrogen combustion, as a result,” Gallant said. “Simply stated, we’re interested in any energy source that can provide the energy we need in a sustainable process.”

Small excavators are great fits for battery-electric drives. So, Volvo Construction Equipment has placed a 48-volt battery pack in each of its compact excavators. The battery pack can store enough energy for the excavators to conduct their daily work tasks on a general duty cycle basis. And, in order to recharge them, the company offers an assortment of charging solutions.

“Even heavier machines that use up to 120 kilowatts can be powered with a battery pack,” he added. “The difference is that the battery pack goes up to a much higher voltage (600 volts for our excavators, in fact), so that we not only have faster recharge times, but also acquire the power we need—all with a reasonable weight and power balance.”

Once manufacturers’ customers require 120 to 150 kilowatts of power, along with longer duty cycles, they’ll need to consider other types of technologies as well. The primary reasons? For these types of requirements, excavators’ batteries are too heavy to supply the power that such customers need, especially if they have applications in which their excavators are utilized continuously for 24 hours. And very large battery packs tend to have very long recharge times.

“Therefore, we’re looking at different technologies like hybrids and alternative fuels that can power these systems in the future,” he said. “And we’re considering cable electric excavators that can connect directly to the grid and draw power while they’re being used, which are especially excellent options if customers have stationary excavators or applications.”

If customers are using larger excavators that require 200 kilowatts of power or more, they will need to purchase equipment that utilizes exotic fuels like gaseous or liquid hydrogen. As an example, they could obtain a hydrogen-powered direct combustion engine (a modification of a standard diesel block) or they could acquire electric energy from a fuel cell, which would power each of their excavators through a battery pack. Both options can be used for very high power ranges, especially those that are required in mining or quarry sites.

“One of the considerations for all power ranges and different technologies is that we’ll need to be much more efficient as OEMs, in order to recapture as much of this energy as possible while the excavators are being used,” Gallant emphasized. “Customers can’t afford to waste or lose power through an inefficient system if they have a battery pack with limited capacity.”

He continued, “That’s why, as manufacturers, we need to be more efficient in how we use the power, recover it in the non-work cycles and ensure the excavators and battery packs last as long as possible.”

With these goals in mind, Volvo Construction Equipment, which currently offers two compact electric excavators, is preparing to develop other options, as well. In addition, the company is expanding electromobility to larger excavators, such as the mid-size EC230E Electric, a prototype that will be available in North America in 2023 for customer pilot projects.

“Volvo Construction Equipment was the first construction equipment manufacturer to commit to an electric future for its compact machine range, as we stopped the development of new diesel engines for mini-excavator models globally—from the EC15 to the EC27—as well as compact front end loaders, from the L20 to L28,” Gallant added. “That’s a bold decision, made in step with a challenge from our president, Melker Jernberg, to stir the market by providing compact, zero exhaust emission excavators.” Chris Lewis is a freelance writer for Asphalt Contractor.

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