Amazing Elektro Dump from KUHN Schweiz AG

In my school days, not many vehicles were seen on the streets – Enfield Bullet was ultimate; there were odd Jawas (Yezdi); more of Rajdoots; array of scooters – Bajaj (Chetak, Priya, Super, Viking); old Vespas, Lambrettas, Lamby,  Vijay .. .. and came the era of mopeds – Luna, Suvega – to be swept over by TVS50 ! – the early ages mopeds were advertised to be easier ones for pedalling when there is no fuel !

Electric mopeds are often prescribed to be solution of rising petrol prices .. EV – an electric vehicle, uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion. An electric vehicle may be powered through a collector system by electricity from off-vehicle sources, or may be self-contained with a battery, solar panels or an electric generator to convert fuel to electricity.  EVs first came into existence in the mid-19th century, when electricity was among the preferred methods for motor vehicle propulsion, providing a level of comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline cars of the time.  The recent technological developments have seen  a resurgence of EVs, and an increased focus on renewable energy.

Royal Dutch Shell, the energy giant known for its fossil fuel production and hundreds of Shell gas stations, is creeping into the electric vehicle-power business. The company’s first DC fast charger from its newly acquired company Greenlots  was launched recently  at a Shell gas station in Singapore. Greenlots, an EV charging startup acquired by Shell in January, installed the charger. This is the first of 10 DC fast chargers that Greenlots plans to bring to Shell service stations in Singapore over the next several months. The decision to target Singapore is part of Greenlots’ broader strategy to provide EV charging solutions across all applications throughout Asia and North America, the company said. Both Shell and Greenlots have a presence in Singapore.

               Greenlots, which is based in Los Angeles, was founded in Singapore; and Shell is one of Singapore’s largest foreign investors. Singapore has been promoting the use of electric vehicles, particularly for car-sharing and ride-hailing platforms. The island city-state has been building up its EV infrastructure to meet anticipated demand as ride-hailing drivers and commercial fleets switch to electric vehicles.

For sure, would have seen dumpers clearing debris and garbage at various places.  A  dumper is a vehicle designed for carrying bulk material, often on building sites. It  is usually an open 4-wheeled vehicle with the load skip in front of the driver.  They are normally diesel powered.  Site Dumper Market research Reports projects the sale of dumpers is going to rise manifold in the coming years.

Miles away is - KUHN Schweiz AG -  a Corporate manufacturing construction machinery  is news !  -  The aptly named Elektro Dumper is 30-feet long, 14-feet wide, 14-feet tall and weighs 45 tonnes when empty. The tyres alone are taller than a human being and it costs as much as a small car. Reporting for duty at a quarry in Biel, Switzerland, this monster hauls 65 tonnes of ore up a gentle slope. Normally, a truck like this would guzzle up to 83,000 litres of fuel a year, pumping out up to 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) by its lonesome. A fleet of such trucks, as employed by various coal mines, iron ore mines and quarries around the world, generates thousands of tonnes of CO2 every year.

But this giant one working in a quarry in Biel, Switzerland, is the  largest electric vehicle, a 110-ton dump truck, is news for  it consumes no energy.  The dump truck, at 45 tons, ascends the 13-percent grade and takes on 65 tons of ore. With more than double the weight going back down the hill, the beast's regenerative braking system recaptures more than enough energy to refill the charge the eDumper used going up.  The Elektro Dumper—eDumper for short—made by Kuhn Schweitz, is based on a Komatsu HB 605-7: 30 feet long, 14 feet wide, and 14 feet tall. The tires are six feet high, and the dump bed reaches to more than 28 feet, fully raised. Kuhn Schweitz adds a 600 kilowatt-hour battery pack—big enough for six, long-range Tesla Model Ses—from Lithium Storage that weighs 9,000 pounds.

CNN recently brought Formula E driver Lucas DiGrassi along to test drive the machine, owned by Swiss cement company Ciments Vigier SA. He reported reaching the top of the grade with 80 percent, then recovering battery charge to 88 percent on the way down (not unlike our writer's experience with a Chevrolet Bolt EV in the Rockies.) Marking that trip around 20 times a day, Kuhn Schweitz says the eDumper produces 200 kwh of surplus energy every day, or 77 megawatt-hours a year. A typical dump truck uses between 11,000 and 22,000 gallons of diesel fuel a year. That saves up to 196 metric tons of global-warming carbon-dioxide gas a year.

Amazing ! – so much of power packed machine that consumes no fuel and does not require charging !!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

22^nd Aug 2019

Source : //www.greencarreports.com/news/