LiuGong is confident that sales of its electric construction machines will continue to grow, both globally and in the US. The firm believes that its latest electric wheeled loaders are proving particularly attractive options. And LiuGong has also just notched up a deal to supply two 856 TE electric loaders to a customer in California.
Andrew Ryan is LiuGong’s president for North America. He said, “We think we have a technology that will save customers money.”
The cost of recharging an electric machine is around 20% of that of fuelling it with diesel in North America. And the total running costs for an electric machine are lower still, with no need to replace engine oil, and simpler drive systems. For wheeled loaders being used at permanent sites such as a quarry, asphalt plant or concrete plant, installing recharging points will be straightforward.
LiuGong is introducing two new electric wheeled loaders, the 7tonne 820 TE and 24.6tonne 870 HE. The 820 TE can offer travel speeds of up to 40km/h for markets where this is permitted, features a 70.5kWh powertrain and a rated load capacity of 2tonnes. The 870 HE features a 423kWh powertrain and a rated load capacity of 7.5tonnes. The latter machine can also be equipped with the 360° camera safety system.
Ryan said that customers often replace conventional diesel machines in a fleet when the units are five years old because this is when they are likely to require extensive maintenance. But for electric drive units, the maintenance requirements are lower and the equipment will need less attention so there will be less of a cost incentive to replace them when they are five years old. He said: “It’ll change how customers think about fleet costs.”
The technology is proven, allaying concerns over battery life. Ryan said: “These batteries are already going over 20,000 hours and our engineers are confident they will get to 40,000 hours.”
LiuGong has every confidence in its electric-drive technology. “We took it seriously earlier than the others. Many of our competitors started later in the process and also made it a side project,” said Ryan.
