Leading UK plant hire company Plantforce are pleased to announce the delivery of two dual-fuel powered hydrogen excavators as part of their involvement in the government-funded Element 1 project.
Element 1 brings together expertise from construction (BAM & Skanska), plant hire (Flannery & Plantforce), hydrogen sector (ULEMCo, GeoPura, Reynolds Logistics) and Research and Technical Organisation BRE to develop the use of hydrogen as a supplement to lower diesel usage on construction sites.
The conversion of two Kobelco SK210HLC-10E Hybrid excavators into their 2000 strong fleet is a significant milestone in their ongoing commitment to delivering sustainability and innovation to the industry. These machines have the potential to provide an average of 30% reduction in tailpipe emissions from each machine by displacement of diesel (or HVO) with hydrogen, depending on the use case.
‘We are delighted to unveil the first of our two dual fuel excavators created under the Element 1 collaboration.’ Plantforce CEO Sam Mercer commented. ‘It has been an 18-month journey to develop this concept with our partners in the scheme culminating in what we think is the way forward in offering a competitive method of decarbonising construction equipment.’
Choosing to convert a pair of Kobelco SK210 Hybrid excavators already in the fleet allowed the Plantforce and ULEMCo team to not only prove that the conversion is viable as a retrofit to existing machines – not just new units, but also harness the already impressive emissions figures from the excavator to create what will be the cleanest and most user-friendly excavator available in the UK. ‘The SK210 Hybrid is seen as a greener alternative to the traditional fully diesel-powered versions thanks to its electric drive slew motor, powered by an onboard lithium-ion battery pack, which significantly lowers fuel consumption.’ Mercer comments. ‘The work undertaken by the ULEMCo team will allow us to further reduce the emissions thanks to the integration of the hydrogen fuel technology which has been tried and tested in the commercial vehicle sector with great success.’
The conversion by ULEMCo has involved the fitment of four hydrogen tanks situated above the engine on the host excavator. Sitting on a specially designed cradle to allow access to the standard components, the hydrogen is fed into the engine to lower the volumes of diesel being burnt. ‘We have a robust system to monitor and feed the hydrogen into the engine and allow the excavator to perform exactly how it would as a standard machine.’ ULEMCo’s Development Engineer Sean Porter-Lawson commented. ‘Our tanks can be safely and easily refuelled in around 10 minutes allowing the excavator to work for around 10 hours and with safety in mind, the tanks have a thermal cut off device which will vent the tanks in event of a fire eliminating the risk of fire.’
BAM’s Innovation and Technology Lead, Colin Evison commented ‘The delivery of the two excavators to Plantforce is another big step in the Element 1 Project and its drive towards lowering emissions in the construction sector. In total, non-road mobile machinery generates 2.7% of UK greenhouse gasses, and with this successful collaboration, we have taken a small step forward in reducing this total. We are looking forward to getting these excavators out on site in the near future and working with the Plantforce team to monitor their progress.’
