The 856HE wheeled loader, made in China by Liugong, is said to be the world’s first commercially available battery electric loader and this unit is the first to be supplied in Europe.
The machine has been put into action at Aggregate Industries plant in Bow, east London. The loading shovel will be used to load aggregates from the railhead and to manage stockpiles on London Concrete’s Readymix plant.
The 21,000 kg vehicle has a 423kwh lithium iron phosphate battery with a fast charging capability of 1.7hrs. The machine has a 160kw engine and 3.5 m3 bucket capacity.
It joins London’s first all-electric readymix concrete mixer truck at Bow, which was put into service earlier this year. [See our previous report here.]
A second Liugong 856HE is due to be delivered to Aggregate Industries before the end of the year.
Aggregate Industries director of sustainability Kirstin McCarthy said of the new Chinese shovel: “We have worked closely with the manufacturers to get the specification and testing right and it is routinely delivering a 10-11 hour shift on full charge and will be a real asset to our operations.
“Aggregate Industries has a clear direction of travel for how we intend to reach zero emissions before 2050 and as a business that has a lot of vehicles and burns a lot of fuel, electrification of our fleet is a key part of that overall strategy.
“Change begins small and then gathers pace and we will be rolling out further electric vehicles across the business during the rest of 2023 and 2024 as we move towards low or zero carbon fuels or energy sources.”
Liugong Europe product manager Oliver Keates said: “This is a journey that began in 2018 for Liugong, and we continue to grow and expand our electric fleet of vehicles.”
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