LiuGong make its Electric Dreams a Reality

Chinese manufacturer LiuGong have “shocked” the heavy equipment world by revealing new battery electric machines at the BICES show in Beijing, China.

Its probably fair comment to say that many sceptics think of Chinese kit as cheap copies of more well-known brands, all too often with little in the way of original research and development.

LiuGong on the other hand is clearly showing big signs of ambition to design radical new machines many of which have been penned by the renowned UK based design team headed by Gary Major who says big things are coming from the Chinese manufacturer in the years ahead. The first of these new machines were recently shown in China at the BICES Exhibition, consisting of the 906E-EV 6-tonne class excavator, 922F-EV 22-tonne class excavator and the 856H-EV wheeled loader, all of which are battery powered.

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“The total operating cost of a battery powered earthmover is, or soon will be, depending on the exact vehicle design and customer application, lower than that of a diesel-powered machine,” said Edward Wagner, executive director of LiuGong New Technology.  

Like many other electric machines that are coming down the line now, these units use lithium-ion battery systems for energy storage. That power is directed into high efficiency permanent magnet electric motors to create the motion necessary to drive the machines. LiuGong say that a typical BEV will have a peak power output two times that of a conventional diesel-powered machine.

The big question everyone wants to know about battery powered machines is how long will they work for? I’ve not been able to find a definitive answer on this as yet, but what we have been told is that the batteries will be capable of lasting for a full working day and are equipped with fast charging technology, which will only need one hour of charging to get the batteries up to 80% full charge. It will be interesting to see these machines in a real-life working environment, especially the 922F-EV with its ground-breaking new design which offers incredible visibility to the offside of the machine, also of note the machine appears to feature 3 boom lift rams. The new standard diesel powered F Series excavators were also revealed and looked very stylish indeed. 

A host of new mini excavator models were also revealed in public for the first time, I can't help thinking that the company missed a trick not having these new machines ready for Bauma the biggest machinery shop window in the world, but having said that these new models look worth the wait.  

Checkout our video of the 856H-EV making its way to the transport. 

I predict exciting times ahead for LiuGong. The Digger Man Blog would like to thank Gary Major for his assistance with this blog post.