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Electric excavators lead the way in Stockholm’s Green Innovation District

News Electrification
30 Aug 2024
The Meatpacking District in Stockholm was the perfect starting point for our “Powering the Future” tour. It’s situated in the city’s Green Innovation District, which is being developed with the goal of renewing and building urban spaces with climate-smart solutions.

The perfect match

The largest of three electric excavators visiting Sweden, the ZE135, took centre stage with the contractor Bäckströms as it worked on a project for energy provider Stockholm Exergi. The ground-breaking machine has been developed by KTEG (a joint venture between Hitachi Construction Machinery and German dealer Kiesel) with power supplied by a 422kWh energy storage system and charging units developed by Alfen NV (in collaboration with Itochu Corporation and HCM). 

Practical application on the job site

The energy storage system and charging units are vital pieces of supporting equipment for electric excavators. They are compact, easily transportable and convenient for an urban job site such as the Meatpacking District. 

Bäckströms Project Support Anton Silvennoinen explains how this works in practice: “The ZE135 is used for about 3.5 hours each morning, and when the operator goes for lunch, we take the opportunity to use the faster DC cable and recharge the machine’s battery in about 45 minutes. 

“The work will continue until the end of the day, then we leave the machine connected to the slower AC cable overnight. It keeps the battery warm for optimum performance – and it’s ready for work the next morning. 

“As the charging unit allows us to safely connect to the Hitachi electric excavators on site, we don’t have to move the machines very far – and so this is the perfect scenario. In addition, we are not dependent on a single connection point and are flexible to work all over Stockholm.” 

An inflatable monkey attached to a Hitachi excavator at Oga Fair, Switzerland

Advantages of electric equipment

Anton has also worked closely with the ZE135 and the other two smaller machines on tour (the ZX85-6EB and ZX55U-6EB developed by HCM) and says: “The advantage of electric equipment is that it is quiet, which is greatly appreciated by those working in close proximity and our customers like the fact that it is an emission-free machine. Overall, I like the three electric excavators: they look good, the hydraulic system is fantastic and the operators are happy, which is always important.”

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