Volvo electric wheel loader concept unveiled

Volvo Construction Equipment has lifted the cover off its latest concept unit – the LX2 electric compact wheel loader at the Volvo Group Innovation Summit held last week in Berlin, Germany.

Now in its fourth year, the summit focused on infrastructure and transportation in cities of the future as well as how new concepts can have a positive impact on society through increased efficiency, reduced environmental impact and improved safety.

The LX2 was launched and demonstrated at the summit alongside a range of other autonomous and electromobility innovations from across the Volvo Group, including the EX2 fully-electric excavator concept unveiled last year.

“The LX2 is a revolutionary zero-emissions prototype that offers improved efficiency and lower operational costs, without compromising on machine performance,” said Volvo CE Emerging Technologies Manager, Ulrich Faß.

“It incorporates the latest advanced chemistry battery technology. As it’s electric, no particulate matter, nitrogen oxide or carbon dioxide are released into the environment. This, together with the fact that it has extremely low noise levels, makes it ideal for use in cities and densely populated areas, as it can be used without disturbing people.”

To make the machine electric, Volvo CE has replaced the combustion engine with a lithium ion battery which stores enough electric energy to operate the machine for eight hours in its most common applications, such as light infrastructure construction and landscaping.

The LX2 also incorporates two dedicated electric motors, one for the drivetrain and one for the hydraulics. Volvo CE said decoupling the subsystems has led to higher efficiency in both the systems and the entire machine.

The LX2 is a second-generation prototype that is part of a research project and is not commercially available.

At the summit, Volvo CE also presented its electric site research project which aims to transform the quarry and aggregates industry by reducing carbon emissions by up to 95 per cent and total cost of ownership by up to 25 per cent. Volvo CE and its customer Skanska Sweden are currently testing the electric site solution in a real production environment for ten weeks at Skanska’s Vikan Kross quarry, near Gothenburg, Sweden.

The system incorporates prototype electric and autonomous machines including the HX2 autonomous, battery-electric load carrier, the LX1 hybrid wheel loader and the EX1 cable-connected excavator. These machines are part of a research project and are also not commercially available.

“The electrification of construction equipment will produce cleaner, quieter and more efficient machines – this represents the future of our industry,” said Volvo CE Senior Vice President of Technology, Patrik Lundblad.

“We are currently in a period of exponential technology growth and are at the start of a paradigm shift," he said.

"At Volvo CE, we are developing technologies connected to electromobility, automation and connectivity that will benefit our customers and the environment by contributing to increased machine performance, productivity, efficiency, safety and sustainability.

"Our future products and services will play an important part in building a sustainable society.”