Volvo Construction Equipment's electric excavator paves way for green growth

Industry

Published: 28 Sep. 2022, 18:28

Volvo Construction Equipment's electric excavator paves way for green growth

Tomas Kuta, president of Volvo Construction Equipment’s Region Korea, talks at a roundtable interview on Wednesday. [VOLVO CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT]

Volvo Construction Equipment Korea introduced the ECR25, its first pure electric excavator, to the domestic market on Wednesday and vowed to offer more eco-friendly machinery in its move to go green.

The ECR25 is a 2.5-ton pure electric excavator powered on 20 kilowatt lithium-ion electric batteries. The excavator can be used up to four hours on a single charge and takes six hours to charge when using a standard charger. When using a high-speed charger, it takes one hour to charge up to 80 percent.

Although its battery life is a limitation, the company believes the product has its own merits. Run on an electric battery, the ECR25 makes almost no noise compared to diesel excavators — ideal for urban construction projects.

“Charging is less of a concern for compact equipment, because its not a production machine and doesn’t have to work for eight to 10 hours,” said Tomas Kuta, president of Volvo Construction Equipment’s Region Asia on Wednesday. “It usually works four to five hours a day, and we think that will be enough for most customers.”

The company did not disclose how many preorders it received, though it did say it received more orders than expected.

The price of the ECR25 is 75 million won ($52,000). The government subsidy for the excavator hasn’t been decided yet, but the company expects the subsidy to range around 18 to 20 million won.

Kuta and Andrew Knight, Volvo Construction Equipment’s head of Excavator Operations, sat down for a roundtable interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily before a press conference Wednesday to discuss the company’s business in Korea and its goal to offer more electric options.

The following are edited excerpts from the interview.

From left: Lim Jae-tack, Volvo Construction Equipment’s head of Market Korea; Daniel Wolven, Swedish ambassdor to Korea; Tomas Kuta, the company’s president of Region Asia; and Andrew Knight, the company’s head of Excavator Operation, pose for a photo in front of the ECR25 at a press conference Wednesday. [VOLVO CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT KOREA]

Q. The market for electric excavators used to be small in Korea, but now big name companies such as Hyundai Doosan Infracore and Hyundai Construction Equipment are planning to release their first electric excavators early next year. How do you plan to compete when more local companies tap into the market?

A. Kuta: We have research and development [R&D] centers in Europe and China, and we also adopt technologies from Korea and the United States. That means we have R&D centers in the four major markets, which is something very few companies have. If you look at the early products in the market, I don’t want to be biased, but I think our products are more refined. The quality is very high and we always prioritize safety when making our machines.

We are still seeing supply chain disruptions around the world. Has it affected the company's production of electric excavators?

Knight: There have been certain things, like electronics, which have been extremely difficult to get. Its been hard to move parts to the right places, and all the costs from the disruption has made costs for building the machines very high.

In Changwon [South Gyeongsang], we already have a dedicated production line to make electric excavators. We are ready to ramp up production ahead of the demand. Even if we don’t know how quickly the orders will come, we need to be ready, and we already invested in the line in April.

Battery cells used in the ECR25 excavators are supplied by Samsung SDI. Are there any other local suppliers with whom you are considering expanding the partnership? Will the decision to build a battery cell plant in Sweden affect local supply deals?

Kuta: Volvo Group has made the decision to start a large manufacturing plant in Sweden to produce battery cells. But even if we have our own battery cells, we will also have to work with other suppliers to be really sure if we have the best and latest technology. I won’t name any names now, but there are some very advanced companies here. Chinese suppliers are extremely agile and have huge scale. But Korea is one of the key countries that can compete with the country.

Knight: Today we have many supply partners and technical partners around the world, and that will continue. If there is technology that we can use through another supplier, we will go ahead. We are talking with Korean companies as well because we are here in Korea, where we produce most of the excavators.

Volvo Group has plans to go carbon neutral by 2040. What is your next step after electric construction equipment?

Kuta: We are looking at hydrogen fuel cells, and we are also looking at biofuels because we actually have a fantastic combustion engine. Its one of the best in the world that can be used in future technologies without CO2 emissions. We think there is a way to utilize investments that we already have done over a long period of time and utilize bio fuels. We also try to look at biofuels specifically for larger machines because today’s battery technology is not sufficient to power the large machines.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]