As part of its commitment to net-zero, UK-based Aggregate Industries has deployed its first electric-powered loading shovel.
The LiuGong 856HE wheeled loader is now operating at the Aggregate Industries London Concrete plant in Bow, East London. The 856HE is claimed to be the world’s first commercially available battery electric loader and is the first fully-electric wheeled loader that LiuGong has supplied in Europe.
Oliver Keates, European product manager for the LiuGong Machinery wheeled loader range, says that more than 2,000 similar LiuGong electric wheeled loaders have so far been deployed in China.
He adds of the 856HE loader: “This machine is suitable for a range of functionalities including quarrying applications, batching plants, recycling of materials and hopper loading.”
At Bow the 856HE loading shovel will be used to load aggregates from the site’s railhead and will also be used on the London Concrete Readymix plant to keep the site tidy and to manage stockpiles.
The 21,000kg vehicle has a 423kwh lithium iron phosphate battery with a fast charging capability of 1.7 hours. The machine has a 160kw engine and 3.5m3 bucket capacity and can operate for more than 11 hours on full charge. The machine can be charged from 20% to 95% in around 45 minutes, using the Kempower-supplied charger at the Bow site. Most importantly, it uses zero fuel, has zero emissions and produces low noise and vibration.
It joins London’s first all-electric readymix concrete mixer truck at Bow, a 26-tonne Renault Trucks E-Tech D Wide, which was deployed earlier this year. Electrification of the fleet and plant is a central part of Aggregate Industries’ wider approach to reach net zero before 2050. Kirstin McCarthy, Aggregate Industries’ director of sustainability, said: “We are delighted to be working with LiuGong and that we are the first customer in Europe to be deploying this all-electric vehicle.
“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’s Keates added: “Working with Aggregate Industries has helped LiuGong to deliver our message of productivity and efficiency with reliability.
“This is a journey that began in 2018 for LiuGong, and we continue to grow and expand our electric fleet of vehicles. More and more companies can now see the benefits these machines bring to businesses, through LiuGong’s iLink Telematics, companies are seeing real benefits which are helping them achieve the ambitious targets that have been set by the Government.”
A second LiuGong 856 HE is due to be delivered to Aggregate Industries before the end of the year. The first 856 HE that is currently operating at Bow will then be moved around other Aggregate Industries sites in the UK.
In May this year, Aggregate Industries launched its Journey to Net Zero Strategy which laid out how it plans to reach zero emissions before 2050.
