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Finnish Friends Put the JCB Electric Mini Excavator to the Test

My friend and industry colleague Olli Paivio had some work to do on the local community allotment and in such a noise sensitive location it was considered to be the perfect place to put the electric excavator to the test. A machine was made available thanks to the Finnish JCB dealer Mateko Oy.

Many of the keen local gardeners popped along to take a look at the machine and were amazed at how quiet it is in operation and of course there are no diesel fumes to contend with, making it the ideal choice of machine for this job, after all, nobody wants to be digging the garden plot while breathing in fumes!

Introduced last year, the JCB 19C-1E is exactly the same as the diesel version in terms of fabrication, and shares the same undercarriage, boom and dozer blade. The digging depth, and dimensions are also the same as the standard diesel version.

Load-sensing, Bosch Rexroth's hydraulics are also retained from the diesel model. The diesel engine and fuel tank have been replaced by a battery pack and a hydraulically powered electric motor (7 kW). Three operating speeds are available, comprising of L (1,200 rpm), G (1,600 rpm) and H (1,800 rpm). Needless to say, the setting with the most revs does tend to eat up the batteries the fastest.

Olli reports that after six hours of working on the clock, including breaks, the charge meter showed that a quarter of the power was still left.

“The second measurement was made by observing the machine's own hour meter. The work was almost continuous boom, dipper and bucket movement. In just under three hours, the charge in the batteries had now halved, so at the same pace, work would have stopped after six hours” said Olli.

Olli continued, “Now it’s worth remembering that batteries can be charged for, for example, during the lunch breaks, which gives a little extension to the length of the workday. There are three different charging options available; 110, 230 and fast charging 415 volts. We had been supplied with the middle version that easily charged the batteries fully overnight. The charging time specified by the manufacturer is eight hours”.

“The optional fast charging system will give a charging time of 2 to 2.5 hours. When machines coming to Finland are equipped with that system, more efficient and manageable battery capacity will be possible” concludes Olli.

The JCB 19C-1E is powered by four lithium-ion batteries, providing 20kWh of energy storage. This is enough for a full working shift for the majority of mini excavator customers on a single charge. The 19C-1E itself is a powerful, compact model with zero exhaust emissions at point of use and one that is considerably quieter than a standard machine.

Checkout the video featuring the test drive by Konepörssi.

Big thanks to Olli Paivio for the photos and video contained in this blog post.