iVT International | A glimpse into the electric future

According to Flash Battery, the conversion to lithium technology is now unstoppable – with construction the next stop on the electrification journey

Electric conversion on building sites has been underway for a number of years, whilst the power and size of electric vehicles are also increasing. The goal is to help European sites drastically cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, as established under the Paris Agreement. In order to achieve this, more and more players in the sector are expanding their electric range.

While applications under 50kWh have already led the way in converting from combustion to electric, nowadays electrification is also moving into heavier vehicles, such as large excavators, drawn by constantly evolving lithium technology with a higher energy density, capable of storing an increasing amount of energy in a small space to meet the typical work cycles of construction machinery.

“The trends speak for themselves but due to the specifications of the current technology in terms of energy, volume, costs and charging infrastructure, full-electric conversion for large machinery is still in the proof-of-concept phase. For these highly energy-intensive vehicles that are subject to gruelling work cycles, it is best to opt for a hybrid system, where the battery is used for a few hours and is supported by a motor generator, which currently runs on diesel but in the future we hope it will be with hydrogen fuel cells, to continue to guarantee a power supply, considering the operations to be carried out and the working conditions” says the CEO of Flash Battery, Marco Righi.