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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In a joint statement, French and German economists have called on governments to adopt “a common approach” to decarbonize European trucking fleets – and they’re calling for a focus on fully electric trucks, not hydrogen.
France and Germany are the two largest economies in the EU, and they share similar challenges when it comes to freight decarbonization. The two countries also share a border, and the traffic between the two nations generates major cross-border flows that create common externalities between the two countries.
At the same time, the EU’s transport sector has struggled to reduce emissions at the same rate as other industries – and road freight in particular is a major contributor to harmful carbon emissions issue due to that industry’s heavy reliance on diesel-powered trucks.
And for once, it seems like rail isn’t a viable option:
While rail remains competitive mainly for heavy, homogeneous goods over long distances. Most freight in Europe is indeed transported over distances of less than 200 km and involves consignment weights of up to 30 tonnes (GCEE, 2024) In most such cases, transportation by rail instead of truck is not possible or not competitive. Moreover, taking into account the goods currently transported in intermodal transport units over distances of more than 300 km, the modal shift potential from road to rail would be only 6% in Germany and less than 2% in France.
That leaves trucks – and, while numerous government incentives currently exist to promote the parallel development of both hydrogen and battery electric vehicle infrastructures, the study is clear in picking a winner.
“Policies should focus on battery-electric trucks (BET) as these represent the most mature and market-ready technology for road freight transport,” reads the the FGCEE statement. “Hence, to ramp-up usage of BET public funding should be used to accelerate the roll-out of fast-charging networks along major corridors and in private depots.”
The appeal was signed by the co-chair of the advisory body on the German side is the chairwoman of the German Council of Economic Experts, Monika Schnitzer. Camille Landais co-chairs the French side. On the German side, the appeal was signed by four of the five experts; Nuremberg-based energy economist Veronika Grimm (who also sits on the National Hydrogen Council, which is committed to promoting H2 trucks and filling stations) did not sign.
You can read an English version of the CAE FGCEE joint statement here.
Electrek’s Take
MAN Trucks’ CEO famously said that it was “impossible” for hydrogen to compete with BEVs, and even committed to building 200 hydrogen-powered semi truck to prove out that hypothesis.
He’s not alone. MAN’s board member for research and development, Frederik Zohm, said that the company is the one saying hydrogen still has years to go. “(MAN) continues to research fuel cell technology based on battery electrics,” he said, in a statement quoted by Hydrogen Insight, before another board member added that, “we (MAN) expect that, in the future, we will be able to best serve the vast majority of our customers’ transport applications with battery-electric trucks.”
With companies like Volvo and Renault and now Mercedes racking up millions of miles on their respective battery electric semi truck fleets, it’s no longer even close. EV is the way.
SOURCE | IMAGES: CAE FGCEE; via Electrive.
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GE Vernova has produced over half the turbines needed for SunZia Wind, which will be the largest wind farm in the Western Hemisphere when it comes online in 2026.
GE Vernova has manufactured enough turbines at its Pensacola, Florida, factory to supply over 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of the turbines needed for the $5 billion, 2.4 GW SunZia Wind, a project milestone. The wind farm will be sited in Lincoln, Torrance, and San Miguel counties in New Mexico.
At a ribbon-cutting event for Pensacola’s new customer experience center, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik noted that since 2023, the company has invested around $70 million in the Pensacola factory.
The Pensacola investments are part of the announcement GE Vernova made in January that it will invest nearly $600 million in its US factories and facilities over the next two years to help meet the surging electricity demands globally. GE Vernova says it’s expecting its investments to create more than 1,500 new US jobs.
Vic Abate, CEO of GE Vernova Wind, said, “Our dedicated employees in Pensacola are working to address increasing energy demands for the US. The workhorse turbines manufactured at this world-class factory are engineered for reliability and scalability, ensuring our customers can meet growing energy demand.”
SunZia Wind and Transmission will create US history’s largest clean energy infrastructure project.
Read more: The largest clean energy project in US history closes $11B, starts full construction
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