Volvo Construction Equipment will roll out the mid-size L120 Electric wheel loader and the new generation EC230 Electric excavator in 2025
While the majority of electric construction equipment on the market is compact, Volvo Construction Equipment is meeting the demand for larger, more powerful electrified equipment with the debut of its mid-size L120 Electric wheel loader.
Volvo CE introduced the L120 Electric to the North American market during its Volvo Days event, held at its headquarters in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. The manufacturer also introduced the new generation EC230 Electric excavator.
“These larger battery-electric models mark a significant advancement toward zero-emission solutions that can help businesses and government fleets meet sustainability and productivity goals,” said Dr. Ray Gallant, Vice President of Sustainability and Productivity Services for Volvo CE. “The electric excavator and wheel loader offer comparable performance to their diesel counterparts but with zero emissions, reduced noise and lower maintenance costs.”
The L120 Electric is a 22-ton machine with a 6-ton lifting capacity and a recommended rehandling bucket capacity of 5 cubic yards, giving it nearly identical performance capabilities as its conventional counterpart.
The electric wheel loader can handle a variety of applications, including infrastructure, waste and recycling, agriculture, forestry, ports and logistics centres.
“As far as performance, it’s quite powerful. The acceleration does rival a diesel machine. The top speed remains the same, but as you would expect with any type of electric vehicle, the torque is more or less instant,” said Chris Connolly, Product Manager for Mid-Size Wheel Loaders.
“Every electric machine we have brought out, we tried to mimic or duplicate the same performance of the diesel counterpart. And we’ve done so, in some ways better with this machine.”
The electric loader is powered by a 600 Volt, 282-kWh lithium-ion battery system that can run for five to nine hours on a single charge, depending on the application. Charging options include a 50-kW DC mobile charger that will charge the L120 Electric from empty to full in about six hours or a 150-kW DC fast charger that can charge it from empty to full in two hours.
The loader also features active cooling and heating of the high-voltage batteries as well as passive cooling for the electric motors, transmission and hydraulic oil.
Electric motors
The L120 Electric wheel loader is equipped with two separate electric motors for propulsion and a third electric motor for hydraulics.
“It’s the same Volvo axles, and we use a Volvo transmission on the machine. We are simply adding electric motors to the transmission. The driveline isn’t like what we see in some of the others where you have electric motors running each of the wheels,” Connolly said.
“We’re very proud of our driveline and the components we build, so we make sure we incorporate those.”
As well, the system recoups deceleration energy to extend battery runtime, reduce brake wear and minimize the need for axle oil cooling.
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“We can set levels of recuperation, which allows for one foot operation. As soon as you let go of the accelerator pedal, your coasting action then sends power back to the to the batteries” Connolly said.
The L120 Electric includes many of the same features as its diesel equivalent, including on-board weighing with the Volvo Load Assist system, torque parallel linkage, electro-hydraulic lever controls and auto bucket-levelling functions. The electric loader is compatible with a range of Volvo attachments, such as buckets, forks, grapples, brooms and snowplows.
The L120 Electric wheel loader will be commercially available in North America in 2025.
EC230 Electric
The 23-ton EC230 Electric is a general-purpose crawler excavator that first launched in early 2023 and has been proving itself on jobsites ever since. The electric excavator features a breakout force of 33,500-foot pounds, a maximum digging reach of 9.9 metres and a max digging depth of 6.7 metres
The updated version of the EC230 Electric excavator delivers improved battery for longer runtime. It also has an updated cab and styling that is part of Volvo’s latest series of excavators.
The first generation EC230 is powered by lithium-ion batteries with a capacity of 264 kWh. For the new version, Volvo CE has increased battery capacity to 450 kWh. Its fast-charging capability has also increased up to 250 kW, reaching 80 per cent charge in 1.5 hours
Depending on the application, the new-generation EC230 has a runtime of 7 to 8 hours.
The new generation EC230 Electric will be commercially available in North America in early 2025.
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