ELECTRIC CONSTRUCTION
ABOVE: Vovlo’s Ahcène
Nedjimi stands proudly
with the new ECR25
Electric
BELOW: Volvo CE’s
autonomous HX2 is
just one of the electric
prototypes that helped to
build the foundations for
the new Electric range
Based in Lyon, Nedjimi has
presented the EX2 prototype to
French President Emmanuel
Macron and Swedish PM Stefan
Löfven, and collaborates with
electromobility leaders across
Volvo’s Bus, Trucks and Penta
brands in a Volvo-Group-wide
electrification strategy. The 2018
Electric Site project saw Volvo CE
and partners electrify a full
quarrying operation, achieving 98%
emissions-reduction with a medley
of vehicle architectures. “We
20 iVTInternational.com November 2019
replaced elephants – large
articulated haulers – with ants,” he
says. “We introduced the 15-tonne
HX2 autonomous, battery-powered
haulers, LX1 hybrid wheel loaders
and a cable-powered EX1 excavator.”
Electrification compels engineers
to imagine the radical machine
forms which may optimise a new
type of worksite power. “The HX2
needed no driver, and removing the
cab allowed us to achieve more with
the design,” says Nedjimi. HX2s
visited the charger autonomously for
one minute of every 10-minute shift,
recovering sufficient energy for
another cycle. “Those batteries
provide high, short-term power, but
greater energy autonomy requires
different technology.”
Hybrid LX1 wheel loaders
featured wheel-mounted electric
motors instead of a conventional
driveline, creating new machine
space. But for all electric’s
transfiguring potential, commercial
ECR25 and L25 Electrics maintain
the familiar layout of predecessor
diesels. “Operators must learn to
adapt to new machines,” says
Nedjimi. “Electrification will create
new behaviours, but you must take
small steps for market acceptance.”
Fit for the future
While Volvo CE conjured
with seminal, mission-specific
architectures in their Electric Site
prototypes, Mecalac took their
existing 12MTX machine as an apt
template for electrification.
“The 12MTX is both powerful
and extremely compact,” says
Mecalac’s head of design and
product management, Patrick
Brehmer. “It’s our technologyleading
machine and perfectly fitted
for electrification.”
Billed as the world’s first
articulated excavator, the 12MTX
has a 9,700kg operating weight but
a turning width of just 2,710mm. It
has two hydraulic circuits and
a rear-mounted 85kW engine
separated from its compact turret,
its two sections connected via
“OPERATORS MUST LEARN TO ADAPT TO NEW
MACHINES. ELECTRIFICATION WILL CREATE
NEW BEHAVIOURS, BUT YOU MUST TAKE SMALL
STEPS FOR MARKET ACCEPTANCE”
Ahcène Nedjimi, electromobility specialist, Volvo CE
/iVTInternational.com
