European first as all electric loading shovel comes to London
 

The 856HE machine is manufactured by Liugong and is the world’s first commercially available battery electric loader and is the very first the company has rolled out in Europe.

The machine has been put into action at the Aggregate Industries Bow Plant in East London. The loading shovel will be used to load aggregates from the site’s Bow railhead and they will also be used on the London Concrete Readymix plant to keep the site clear.

The 21,000 kg vehicle has a 423kwh lithium iron phosphate battery with a fast charging capability of 1.7hrs. The machine has a 160kw engine and 3.5m3 bucket capacity and can operate for more than 11 hours on full charge. Most importantly, it uses zero fuel, has zero emissions and produces low noise and vibration. 

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It joins London’s first all electric readymix concrete mixer truck at Bow, which was launched earlier this year, and electrification of 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 Liugoing 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.”

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Oliver Keates, Wheel Loading Shovel Product Manager for Liugong Europe, said: “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.

In May Aggregate Industries launched its Journey to Net Zero Strategy which laid out how it plans to reach zero emissions before 2050.