According to the United Nations, the construction industry is responsible for 38 percent of all global CO₂ emissions. Political framework conditions and stricter requirements and tenders from cities and developers are increasingly pressuring the construction industry to avoid CO₂ emissions at all stages of construction.

Until recently, the construction industry was rather sceptical about the electrification of heavy construction machinery. After all, the power-hungry machines need a lot of energy to move large quantities of earth, or to lift and transport heavy materials. Despite various pilot projects and prototypes of electrified construction machines, manufacturers and customers have preferred to stick to conventional, cheaper technologies, and accepted the high CO₂ emissions.

Organisations that use conventional construction machinery will soon no longer get any orders

The goal of pushing only sustainable building projects in the future unites cities as diverse as Oslo, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Budapest. The cities involved in the C40 (including Berlin and Heidelberg) want to halve CO₂ emissions for the construction of new buildings, and infrastructure and maintenance by 2030. From 2025 onwards, the cities only want to award contracts in which CO₂-neutral construction machinery is used.

The timetable seems ambitious, but it can be achieved. This is because the electrification of construction machinery is already on the verge of a decisive breakthrough: technical advances in drive, battery, and charging technology are already enabling electrification on a grand scale — and Webasto is one of the driving forces behind this development.

"The increasing electrification in all industries will also reduce the prices for battery systems and components in the future," explains Karl Kolmsee, Head of Product Portfolio Management Energy Systems at Webasto.

The key to successful electrification of construction machinery lies in high voltage technology: "High voltage technology delivers precisely the high energy density needed by construction machinery," says Kolmsee. This means that construction machines can charge with an electrical voltage of up to 800 volts and serve demanding load profiles. In addition, smaller cable cross-sections are possible for the same charging power so that the machines can be charged faster.

 

Will conventional construction machinery soon be obsolete? Electric alternatives are already on the advance.

Webasto supports construction machinery and commercial vehicle manufacturers in the development of modular battery systems

Green-G, a manufacturer of electric vehicles and systems, worked with Webasto to develop the zero-emission ecarry for reduced pollution in urban areas.

The development of a battery system is expensive. And while the large OEMs can afford the changeover, many construction machinery and commercial vehicle manufacturers shy away from the costs. This is where Webasto comes in and offers high quality individual battery solutions. Webasto produces standardised packs with scalable energy contents from 35 to 350 kilowatt hours.

The packs comprise 16 modules each, which are in a robust housing and include a dedicated cooling interface. "We have developed the pack so that it can be used in a wide variety of vehicles and applications," explains Kai Baunacher, Product Manager – High Voltage Battery Services at Webasto. "This allows our customers to customise with a standard product that matches Webasto's automotive quality."

Webasto accompanies OEM customers through all phases of the project – from conception and development to implementation and beyond with various services: "Many of our customers are smaller and are just feeling their way into electrification. We advise our customers on all aspects and do not only deliver finished product“ says Baunacher. This approach has many advantages for Webasto’s customers: The technology is scalable, the products are of the highest quality and the total cost of ownership (TCO) and time-to-market are dramatically reduced.

Electrification is already taking place at Webasto

Webasto is already working on electrification with various customers. For example, the Danish company Danfoss Editron recently presented an all-electric wheel loader that saves 38 tonnes of CO₂ per year at average low, medium and high work cycles compared to the conventional hydraulic version. By comparison, an average diesel passenger car requires approximately 1.2 tonnes of CO₂ per year for 10,000 kilometres at a consumption of 5 litres. Webasto equipped the wheel loader with four 140 kWh batteries. The "Vehicle Interface Box" (VIB) is the "brain" of the system: it connects the battery system and the vehicle via an interface for system configuration and programming.

Goldhofer has also successfully incorporated Webasto‘s high voltage battery technology into its business. The company from Memmingen builds vehicles for a payload range of 25 to 15,000 tonnes. Since 2017, SHERPA E New Gen tow tractors have been operating quietly and emission-free on airport aprons all over the world. One tug saves around 30 tonnes of CO₂ per year compared to a conventional tug.

Besides saving CO₂, electrification has other pleasant benefits for people and the environment: electric construction machines are quieter, with far less vibration. The future is electric – soon also on sustainable construction sites.

 

 

 

The all-electric wheel loader from Danfoss Editron saves 38 tonnes of CO₂ per year compared to the hydraulic version.