Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/748269
EquipmentWorld.com | November 2016 45 V olvo Construction Equipment drew the curtain back on a number of possible future products during its Xploration Forum in Eskilstuna, Sweden. The event, showcasing what could be called pre-prototypes, served to underline where Volvo is headed technologically. "We're sharing these things because it's real, it's not a fan- tasy," says Martin Weissburg, Volvo CE president. "We can't tell you when these products are coming, but we can tell you that we have customers today that want them." Volvo CE is laying its technology bets – at least right at this moment – on autonomous vehicles and electrification. "Our challenge," says Weissburg, "is what we're calling the triple zero goals: zero unplanned stops, zero emissions and zero ac- cidents." In addition, the company is aiming at ten times higher efficiency through technology. The experimental concept vehicles unveiled – some sporting retrofits on current machines, others in a "green iron" stage – included: • The LX1 hybrid wheel loader, which Volvo says can deliver up to a 50 percent improvement in fuel efficiency over current models. • The HX1 autonomous, battery- electric "load carrier," specifically designed for Volvo's Electric Site quarry research project. • An autonomous wheel loader and articulated hauler. LX1 hybrid Customers have long asked Volvo for a hybrid wheel loader, ac- knowledged Scott Young, program manager for electromobility. These customers include environmental services giant Waste Management, which has a fleet of more than 2,000 Volvo machines. "For years, Volvo's competitors kept telling me they had a hybrid machine, and I kept asking Volvo when they would come out with theirs," says John Meese, senior di- rector of heavy equipment at Waste Management. Now Waste Management is par- ticipating in field studies of the LX1 at two facilities in California, where it will go head to head with con- ventional loaders in fuel efficiency and emissions reduction tests. The LX1 driveline has no axles; instead electric drive motors are mounted at each wheel. The ma- chine also has electric hydraulics, an energy storage system, a much smaller engine than a comparable Concept machines reveal bets on automation, electrification VOLVO CE UNVEILS ITS FUTURE: technology | by Marcia Gruver Doyle | MGruver@randallreilly.com The LX1 hybrid loader prototype paired with the HX1 load carrier are two key machines in Volvo's Electric Site quarry research project.