Electric Excavators Leading the Charge in Norway

Norway has long been a hotbed for embracing electric powered excavators and some of the latest models to be purchased by Norwegian customers include the new Volvo EC230 Electric.

I saw my first Volvo EC230 Electric 23-tonne class hydraulic excavator on static display at the Conexpo/Con-Agg show in Las Vegas earlier this year, and I have to say it looks a stunning piece of kit.

One Volvo customer in Norway, Walan Maskin AS, is already running two of these machines on sites in the Oslo area. Norway is leading the way in the use of green energy sources and in particular electric powered construction machinery. It was predicted in 2021 that by the end of 2022 around 15% of all new excavators sold would be electric powered, and it would not surprise me if that percentage was actually higher.

Through tough tender competitions, the City of Oslo has rewarded those who adopt zero-emission technologies on construction sites, using electric excavators and other zero-emission vehicles during the construction process.

The Volvo EC230 Electric is powered by a 600-volt battery back with a battery capacity of 264 kWh, the big question that everyone always asks with these machines is how long will it run for? Volvo suggest a run time of up to 4-5 hours depending on application but can be easily topped up during break times.

In practice its all about a change in operational habits, just like we top up a mobile phone as and when required, we will do the same thing with electric vehicles.

I’ve not been fortunate enough to get behind the levers of the EC230 Electric yet, but hopefully that day will come soon.

In the meantime, checkout this customer testimonial video from Volvo CE.