All-Electric Construction Machinery

The Missing Link toward net-zero construction machinery

The European Green Deal aims for green house gas (GHG) emission reductions target for 2030 to at least 50 %. Construction projects are major contributor to GHG emissions mainly due to heavy-duty diesel construction machines, which account for more than 50 % of the total emissions from construction operations. In Oslo, emissions from construction machinery account for 30 % of the total CO2 emissions from transport. At construction sites, the use of excavators, wheel loaders and dumpers will usually account for more than 80 % of the CO2 emissions from the machine park in the project, corresponding to around 650,000 ton CO2 eq. every year. Thus, Norway aims that by 2030, 70 % of new construction machinery use emission-free technologies.

On the path to carbon neutral construction sites, there is a push to make excavators, wheel loaders, bulldozers and other construction machinery electric. At present, virtually 100% of this machinery use hydraulic cylinders, where oil and pressure is used to control movement. Even existing machinery considered “electric” still utilize battery powered, fully hydraulic systems. The existing hydraulic systems have high level of GHG emissions and low energy efficiency. The energy efficiency of a diesel-hydraulic system is 10-15 % and for electro-hydraulic system is 40-45 %. Additionally, the existing hydraulic actuators have high cost/need for maintenance, need for 100 liters of hydraulic oil, and environmental impact due to oil spills.

Excess Engineering has developed a patent approved, electric actuator, replacing the requirement for hydraulic actuators. Excess Electric Actuator has:

• High load capacity up to 100 ton

• Long stroke up to 3 m

Our electric actuator is highly energy efficient, significantly reduces GHG emissions, has a compact size with more precise control, reduces need/cost of maintenance, and there is no need for 100 liters of hydraulic oil. The change from hydraulic to Excess Electric Actuator in construction machinery offers:

• High energy efficiency (> 90 %)

• Reduced GHG emissions (> 50 %)

• Superior response and reliability

• Increased service life

• Reduced maintenance cost

• Simplification

In this project, we move to the construction machinery market, introducing Excess Electric Actuator to construction machinery, awarded Seal of Excellence from European Commission. We have planned pilot projects to develop all-electric systems to meet Net-Zero targets for construction machinery.

All-Electric Wheel Loader

Excess Engineering and Rental.one have entered into an agreement to deliver an ‘‘All-Electric’’ wheel loader in 2024, with total project cost of 1.5 million Euros, partly funded by ENOVA.

The hydraulic pumps, motors, and hydraulic cylinders will be removed, and replaced with Excess Electric Actuators, electric motors and control system. The All-Electric wheel loader will provide 50 % increased energy efficiency.

The electric actuator itself is a spin-off product from an Innovation Norway project. We had already deliveries to a niche market (subsea). The technology has utilized in a subsea tool for geotechnical site investigation, which has been successfully tested onsite in Le Havre, France in May 2022.