Machinery / Industrial Parts & Tools

Komatsu Group, one of the world's largest construction machinery and mining machinery manufacturers, recently announced that it will join hands with Honda to develop small electric excavators. The smallest model of Komatsu excavators will be equipped with Honda's detachable battery, and electric products will be launched as soon as possible.

At present, Sany Heavy Industry and Sunward Intelligent are also accelerating their electrification transformation. The electrification storm in the construction machinery industry will bring huge opportunities to related fields.

1. Honda will develop electric excavators

Honda, a large Japanese trading company, previously exhibited Honda's MobilePowerPack (MPP) battery replacement system at the Tokyo Motor Show for the development of electric motorcycles. Now Honda thinks it is a pity that only motorcycles can be used for MPP, so it has decided to extend its application to the field of excavators.

Therefore, Honda teamed up with Komatsu, which specializes in manufacturing excavators and other construction machinery in Japan. Both parties expect to launch this electric Komatsu PC01 (tentative name) excavator on March 31, 2022. At the same time, both parties will actively develop light machine tools under 1 ton.

According to the introduction, the MPP system was chosen because the system is compatible, and both excavators and electric motorcycles can share charging facilities. The shared mode will put less pressure on infrastructure.

Currently, Honda is also laying out the construction of charging facilities. In addition to selling motorcycles and excavators in the future, Honda will also provide one-stop services such as charging.

2. Leading companies have deployed new technologies

my country's leading construction machinery companies have also deployed electrification early.

CITIC Construction Investment concluded that these manufacturers put the exploration of energy saving and emission reduction in component-level technology (engine electronic control technology, new electronic cartridge structure multi-way valve, mechanical-hydraulic continuously variable transmission), system-level technology (new transmission form, DCC direct drive hydraulic technology), new energy engineering machinery (new energy technology, hybrid power technology) have achieved good energy-saving effects and achieved environmental protection goals.

The reporter learned that the current market share of electric excavators is still very small, and there is still a lot of room to replace fuel-based hydraulic excavators.

3. There are three major benefits of electrification transformation

Some experts believe that the electrification transformation of construction machinery enterprises has three advantages.

First, energy saving and emission reduction. The front working device of the electric excavator, the upper rotating body slewing device and the lower walking body's walking device are all operated by the power supply to drive the hydraulic pump. The power supply is provided by the external wires of the car body and is controlled by the internal control device of the car body. While ensuring high operating efficiency, it reduces operating costs and achieves zero exhaust emissions.

Second, when working in places with flammable and explosive gases such as tunnels, electric excavators have the advantage that fuel-based excavators do not have—safety. Fuel-burning excavators have hidden dangers of detonation, and at the same time, due to poor air circulation and dust in the tunnel, it is easy to greatly reduce the life of the engine.

Third, it helps to upgrade intelligently. More than half of the core technologies in fuel-based excavators are dealing with the sequelae caused by the engine, and this type of technology occupies a large amount of manufacturing costs, worsening the working environment and making many more advanced technologies unavailable to the excavator. After the excavator is electrified, it will accelerate the development of the excavator to intelligent and informatization, which will be a qualitative leap in the development of the excavator.

4. Many companies are upgrading intelligently

On the basis of electrification, many listed companies are making intelligent attempts.

Sany Heavy Industry launched a new generation of SY375IDS intelligent excavator on May 31. The product is equipped with functions such as intelligent weighing, electronic fence, etc., which can monitor the weight of each bucket during work in real time, and can also set the working height in advance to prevent improper operation from causing damage to underground pipelines and overhead high-voltage lines.

Xiang Wenbo, president of Sany Heavy Industry, said that the future development direction of the construction machinery industry is electrification and intelligence, and Sany Heavy Industry will also accelerate digital transformation, with the goal of achieving sales of 300 billion yuan in the next five years.

On March 31, Shanhe Intelligent SWE240FED electric intelligent excavator rolled off the assembly line in Shanhe Industrial City, Changsha Economic Development Zone. According to He Qinghua, chairman and chief expert of Sunward Intelligent, electric and intelligent will be the future development direction of construction machinery products. With the increase of battery energy density and the decrease of cost, the application of electric intelligent excavators will be wider.

At the performance briefing meeting, Zoomlion stated that the future of the industry lies in intelligence. Zoomlion will accelerate the expansion from product intelligence to intelligence in many aspects such as manufacturing, management, marketing, service and supply chain.

5. There is huge room for growth in new markets

Kong Lingxin, an analyst at the high-end equipment manufacturing group of CICC, believes that the electrification of low-power small and medium-sized machinery is a long-term development trend. Take the forklift industry as an example. From 2015 to 2016, electric forklift shipments accounted for about 30% of the industry. By 2020, the shipment ratio of internal combustion forklifts and electric forklifts has reached 1:1, and electric forklifts have increased by 20%. Market growth.

Kong Lingxin said that small or micro excavations with medium to low tonnage under 15 tons also have the possibility of large-scale application. Now China's small and micro-digging reserves account for more than 20%, and the total social ownership is about 40%, but this is by no means a ceiling. With reference to Japan, the proportions of social ownership of small digging and micro-digging have reached 20% and 60%, respectively, and the total amount of the two is close to 90%. The increase in electrification rate will also bring further growth of the entire electric excavator market.

CITIC Construction Investment believes that leading construction machinery companies have stronger research and development capabilities in the field of electrification and an earlier layout, which will lead the industry's progress and changes.