The plug-in eBG 33, designed by Bauer Maschinen, was used to drill piles with a diameter of 1200 mm, up to a depth of 16 metres, on a Bauer Spezialtiefbau project in Münster, Germany.
Conditions on the test site were described as “extremely difficult”. Despite this, it did the job and saved 400 litres of fuel in eight hours. It was also only half as noisy as the conventional diesel powered version.
To deliver the same capacity as a conventional Bauer BG with a diesel engine, the eBG 33 uses a direct power supply – battery power cannot yet deliver this sort of power requirement, Bauer says.
The Bauer eBG 33 has a drive power of more than 400 kW, putting it in the same class as the BG 28 and BG 36. Apart from classic Kelly drilling, it can be used for soil mixing techniques such as cutter soil mixing (CSM) or double-head system drilling, or with a Bauer trench cutter attachment.
In October we reported that Aarsleff Ground Engineering AB in Sweden had invested in the world’s first battery-powered pile driving rig, a Junttan PMx2e, equipped with two battery packs of 396 kWh and a 266 kW electric motor. [See previous report here.]
First full production job for the eBG 33 will be on the HS2 project in the UK, starting in the next few weeks. However, it will not be on Bauer's own site. (Bauer Technologies is working in joint venture with Keller on a £95m geotechnical works contract for EKFB – Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and BAM Nuttall – on the C23 section between the Chiltern Tunnels and Long Itchington Wood.) The plug-in rig has been sold instead to a competitor (as yet undisclosed) for use on another site.
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