SANY electric excavator arrives in Europe with MASSIVE 422 kWh battery
Chinese equipment manufacturer SANY says its new, SY215E 25 ton electric excavator offers all the power and performance of its diesel competitors while dramatically reducing both noise, total cost of ownership, and (of course) emissions … but the number that stands out to me is 422.
As in: the machine’s massive, cobalt-free, 422 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery pack. (!)
We first covered the SY215E last summer, when a prototype machine arrived in the Netherlands for a demonstration run. The electric excavator garnered significant interest among the more than 200 customers SANY demonstrated it for, resulting in “dozens of pre-sale orders,” according to the company’s official release.
Now, the big equipment asset is ready for customer delivery. That means we not only have some additional marketing copy from the SANY website, but a whole lot of specs, too, making it easier to how this electric excavator stacks up to the Volvo CE and Liebherr earthmovers. From the company’s Dutch website:
The 23-tonne (25 Imperial tons) SY215E electric excavator allows you to work with zero emissions, low noise levels and a lower total cost of ownership thanks to its reduced maintenance costs. Powered by a state-of-the-art lithium iron phosphate (cobalt free) battery, this versatile machine has been designed with a fully flexible, automotive standard (CCS2) charging solution and can achieve a full days work (6 – 8 hrs) off a single charge.
The driver’s comfort is prioritized with a Grammer chair and with spring-loaded lever stands, which reduces the strain during long working days. In addition, the machine is designed to minimize the noise level, with a measured maximum sound volume of only 71 dB in the cab.
The company says all its features and benefits add up to significant fleet savings compared to traditional diesel-powered machines. “With an annual work of 3,000 hours,” the company claims, “a diesel-powered machine can cost around SEK 765,000 ($76,550 US) in fuel, while this electric model only costs around SEK 450,000 ($45,035, as I type this). This means an annual saving of approximately SEK 315,000 ($31,520) in operating costs alone.”
That’s significant. And, across a fleet of dozens of such machines operating for years on end, adds up fast.
Electrek’s Take
If you’re not familiar with SANY, you should be. The company is a major player in the Chinese heavy equipment space, and they have genuine global ambitions with not just their electric off-road equipment assets, but on road trucks as well.
In their own words:
As a global leader in construction engineering, SANY is dedicated to delivering high-quality products and services. In response to the global energy shortage, SANY has long embraced energy-saving and emission reduction initiatives, focusing on electrification. In 2023, SANY introduced over 40 new electric products, achieving sales revenue of $449.4 million USD. SANY remains committed to innovation and supporting the energy transition in Europe with the best products, services, and support.
$449.4 million may not be at the same multibillion level as Caterpillar or Volvo, but it’s certainly not nothing. And it seems like there’s a lot more to come.
That’s SANY, then, but it doesn’t quite cover the insanity of tying up 422 kWh of battery capacity on a single machine, does it? Maybe I’ve been drinking too much of the MOOG and Milwaukee Kool-Aid over the last couple of days, but it seems crazy to have five or six EV’s worth of battery locked into one machine that may very well spend hours (or days) idled on a given job site. Battery swap technology, surely, is the way to go.
That’s my take, anyway. Click those links in the paragraph above to see what I mean, then come back here and let us know what you think of putting those big batteries in a single excavator in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: SANY Europe; via LinkedIn.
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Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.
According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.
“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.
The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.
The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.
Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.
And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.
The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.
Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.
That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.
The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.
Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.
The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.
Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.
In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.
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