Excavators have become essential for the entire spectrum of construction industry, regardless if its road building, building or demolishing structures, land clearing or even digging, trenching or drilling, an excavator would be required to get most of the work done. Due to the importance of this particular heavy machine, leading manufacturers such as Kubota, Volvo CE, Komatsu, Hitachi and Caterpillar have ramped up their R & D components towards enhancing the capabilities of excavators even further. There have been numerous developments within the sphere of excavators among which includes the development of electric excavators which are becoming ‘the norm’ as nations aggressively move towards greener options in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The technological developments revolving around electric excavators have been immensely rapid to the point that some manufacturers have developed mini excavators that are able to operate continuously for an entire. Most of these new electric models such as the Volvo EC230 can be charged from regular power sources and be used as they are being charged or run on battery power after they are charged overnight.
The EC230 excavator is equipped with a 264-kWh battery and can be operated for five hours at full power. Hitachi Construction Machinery has also announced that they are working on electric models and will be unveiling the model during the Bauma 2025 Trade Fair which will be held in Munich, Germany. The bulk of the digital, mechanical and hydraulic related technological developments were mainly targeted at mini excavators and midi excavators that have become essential machinery within the scope of urban construction projects.
These smaller excavators which are generally available for hire easily from construction equipment rental companies have been enhanced with various new technologies among which include telematics, GPS systems and telematics that assist operators to position and navigate terrain and enhanced hydraulic systems that offer operators greater control over their machines. Other equally important advancement includes auto-idling mechanisms that save fuel and ultimately cost, artificial intelligence, augmented operator comfort and safety, load and exterior sensors and some are even capable of being controlled remotely.
According to industry players, the sheer difference in the frequency of mini excavators for hire compared to standard sized excavators for hire says it all. The latest mini excavators are significantly more powerful than older versions and based on comparisons between new mini or midi excavators to older generation standard excavators, a new 10T mini excavator is capable of performing as well as a five-year-old 15T excavator model.
This development is critical to projects mainly due to the fact that smaller excavators consume less energy, produce lower emissions and are easy to transport from one project site to another. Apart from that, the smaller frame of these excavators makes them perfect for urban construction projects where space is often an issue that has a negative impact on productivity due to slower navigation of larger machines in tight or congested project environments.
