Norwegian companies Pon Equipment and Danfoss have begun production of a 25-tonne battery-powered excavator that is able to work for seven hours on a single charge.

Danfoss is a pioneer of battery-powered alternatives to traditional petrol and diesel machinery and Pon is a dealer in Caterpillar equipment that decided to produce a fully electric version of one of the US company’s models.

Tomi Ristimäki, OEM sales director at Danfoss, said: “The Cat 323F Z-line is a clean green innovative machine, enabled by Danfoss’ Editron drivetrain, which is a software-led system. Our strong relationship with Pon Equipment, combined with our experience of electrifying heavy-duty machines, helped to make this a successful conversion project.

“We are pleased to have supplied the technology that has helped Pon Equipment to meet demand from the construction industry for electric zero emission excavators.”

Eivind Hafslund, Pon’s project manager for special products, added that an electric excavator, as well as being quiet and non-polluting, was capable of safer and more reliable operations and had a shorter payback time than a traditional model.

He said the machine was now in production and that the company had received seven orders from customers in Scandinavia, as well as interest from Germany, France, Holland and the UK.

The development is in line with the Norwegian government’s recently introduced policy of making construction sites zero carbon. According to Danfoss, diesel-powered construction machinery accounts for about 20% of all carbon emissions in Oslo. The  policy supports Norway’s goal of become climate neutral by 2030.

From: GCR