Electric Powered Mini Excavators are paving the way for other larger sized machinery to go electric as well, as the world turns its back on fossil fuel. Going green, going clean and reducing carbon footprints is what OEMs are looking at diligently in order to remain relevant to their respective markets which in this case would be none other than the construction industry.
The industry that has long been carrying the label of “environment enemy” are starting to realize the significance of their contribution towards pollution and over the last five years have started to not just look at remedial action, but have taken huge steps towards going green entirely.
According to a spokesperson from Kubota’s marketing component, the demand for electric powered mini excavator hire machinery in recent years is not just due to the cost effectiveness and practicality of these machines, the demand is equally driven by genuine concerns for the environment.
It was due to this element that Kubota went beyond electric and conducts research on alternative fuel sources which is in line with the company’s ‘carbon limiting policies’. Similar notions were uttered by Glen Hampson who is the business development manager for Kubota UK. Hampson attested the fact that Kubota seeks to achieve their two tier goal which takes into account the functionality of these machines and the impact that they have on the environment.
This also means that when this goal is achieved, only then will their business objectives also be met, as this will allow operators to work in zones that are regulated for emission levels.
Apart from that he also reminded those at the press conference that electric excavators are safe for confined spaces and projects that are conducted underground as they do not produce harmful emissions and electric excavators also produce very low noise outputs compared to piston based engines.
Kubota only recently launched a prototype in 2020 in Kyoto as a response to their competitor Komatsu who in collaboration with Honda released the PC01 all electric mini excavators which thus far has been nothing short of a success for the manufacturer.
Volvo CE also managed to get into the game by equipping the EC15 to EC27 range with rechargeable power packs that could also be utilized for the L20 to L28 range wheeled loaders. This interchangeable element creates an ecosystem specific to Volvo CE which increases switching costs for construction companies.
However, profit objectives were moved further down the line by these companies as most of these companies have become sensitive towards the welfare of construction workers and the environment. This trend is the wave of the future and any heavy machine manufacturer that does not get into the bandwagon will eventually lose out he quoted.
These initiatives go hand in hand with the currently existing new technologies and not utilizing these new developments related to excavator technology will certainly be a foolish thing to do and end up as Nokia did all those years ago. Ignorance is most certainly not bliss.
