Wacker Neuson extends its electric range at bauma 2019

First published at bauma - April 10, 2019

The EZ17e excavator could be useful for tunnel construction, demolition or other enclosed applications.

Wacker Neuson is continuing its electrification drive with the addition of a mini-excavator and dumper, rammer, vibrating plate and concrete vibrator with battery back-pack to its ‘zero emissions’ range.

“We can now provide everything we need for a small- and medium-sized jobsite. That’s the widest range you can find anywhere in the industry,” said Alexander Greschner, chief sales officer at Wacker Neuson.

Production of the E17e mini-excavator will begin at the end of the year. “There is no difference in performance between this machine and the diesel version,” said Andreas Gstöttenbauer, head of product management at the company’s Hörsching site. Wacker Neuson is also developing a larger excavator, the EZ26e, but this is still at the research stage with no production date set.

In designing any piece of electrically-powered kit, Wacker Neuson’s goal is to provide a battery life that can keep the equipment operating for a whole day – however that does not mean eight hours of continuous use. The lithium ion battery in the excavator is 25kW hours. It has an on-board charging system that can work with between 100 and 400 volts.

The DW15e articulated electric wheel dumper has four-wheel drive and a payload of up to 1.5 tonnes. It has one motor for the drive system and another for the work hydraulics to minimize energy consumption. When braking the machine or driving downhill, energy is fed back into the battery.

The new battery-powered rammer AS60e, the vibrating plate AP2560e and the concrete vibrator ACBe all operate with the same battery, the BP1000 as do the other rammers and plates in the electrified range. The batteries take six-to-eight hours with a standard charging kit or with a quick charger can reach 80% charge in 60 minutes. The operating time this gives each piece of equipment obviously varies depending on their size with some of the larger vibrating plates lasting for 25 minutes net running time.

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