Equipment World Digital Magazine
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needs, charging the machine in advance. "The machine knows that when Rhonda is doing a certain type of work, then it's likely she'll be doing a task that will need more power," Skantz says. "It is programmed to be smart enough to charge the battery in advance." Users can set the level of battery charging. At WM, the engine kicked in when the battery got to 35 percent of its capacity. The LX1 was also tested at WM's transfer station in Moreno Valley, California, where the LX1 worked in tight quarters loading trucks, as opposed to Redwood's open spaces. "At Redwood, we wanted the machine to be as nimble as possible and go from zero to maximum safe operating speed quickly," Meese says. "We wanted to quickly fill the bucket and dump it." The Moreno Valley facility is primarily a truck loading operation, requiring fewer tweaks of the operator settings. The LX1's ability to reduce wheel slippage by controlling the torque at each wheel, however, was an important factor at the transfer station. "We pay $4 million a year on tires in our transfer stations, primarily because of wheel slippage on wet floors," Meese says. "If that number can be significantly reduced, that's important beyond fuel efficiency." Not that Meese is discounting the LX1's fuel efficiency potential. On the baseline L150 loader, Meese estimates a fuel burn of 7 to 9 gallons per hour on an eight- or 10-hour shift. The 3.6-liter LX1, by comparison, runs occasionally at 4 gallons per hour. Another important feature in both WM test facilities: the "clean line" underneath the machine, made possible by eliminating axles and differential housing, since motors power each wheel. "There's very little there for material to wrap up in, because nothing's really exposed, which is huge from a maintenance standpoint," Meese explains. Then there's the sloping hood. Unlike conventional loaders that need to deal with the space requirements of emissions control components, the green-already LX1's hood contour allows the operator to see a person in close range to the machine. "It may look like a sexy design, but it has real safety benefits," Meese says. Still on the wish list Since the LX1's loader pivot pins positioned the bucket closer into the machine body's center, there's also been a reduction in the machine's ability to reach up and over. That's something WM would like adjusted, since it typically buys 2 ½- to 3-foot lift arm extensions to get the lift height it needs, eliminating the need to use a larger machine. Technical support is another challenge Meese sees if the LX1 reaches production. "We won't have the in- house capabilities to do software diagnostics, so there's really an onus on the dealer to bring up the level of their technician's knowledge." Project details The project was funded in part by an $1.8 million California Energy Commission grant. CALSTART, an organization aimed at growing a green transportation industry, conducted the project's fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emission tests. CALSTART will issue the official test report in September. Volvo CE is not making predictions on when the LX1 will – if ever – reach the production line. "But before we launch a machine like the LX1, you can expect to see elements of this design incorporated into our products," Young says. Meanwhile, the LX1 is one of the key machines Volvo is using in its Electric Site quarry research, to be completed in 2018. EquipmentWorld.com | August 2017 69 Head-to-head testing: CALSTART measured the Volvo LX1's fuel efficiency and emissions against those of a Volvo L150. Rhonda Lepori and John Meese with Waste Management. The sloping hood is a safety advantage, says John Meese with Waste Management, giving the Volvo LX1 operator the ability to see people around the back of the machine.