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Running heavy machinery in a quarry environment is a dirty business, involving massive diesel trucks belching out exhaust fumes. But it doesn't have to be. Volvo Construction Equipment has teamed up with Skanska to viability test its Electric Site concept. The project will run for 10 weeks at the latter's Vikan Kross quarry, where Volvo's electric and autonomous machinery will do their thing in a real production environment.
Each transport stage at the test site will be electrified – "from excavation to primary crushing, and transport to secondary crushing" – though Volvo admits that a small amount of diesel will still be used at the Electric Site, which is located near Gothenburg in Sweden. Skanska's working quarry produces materials for the construction industry, including asphalt and cement, and the test operation will run at the same level as it did before the electric heavy machinery rolled in. But it's expected to reduce carbon emissions by up to 95 percent and, equally as important, shave 25 percent off running costs too.
25% is a big reduction in running costs. If it does materialize, it will serve as an important incentive for industry to eliminate fossil fuels from their operations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 07 2018, @01:39PM (5 children)
If it's supposed to lower costs I would have expected them to use several km long medium (10-30kV?) voltage cables, not batteries. So -25% opex +1000%capex + fire hazard.
What's next? battery powered table saw, water heater?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Taibhsear on Friday September 07 2018, @02:55PM (1 child)
Uhhhh...
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-M18-FUEL-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Brushless-Cordless-10-in-Dual-Bevel-Sliding-Compound-Miter-Saw-Kit-W-Miter-Stand-2734-21HD-40-08-0551/302470865 [homedepot.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 07 2018, @06:39PM
Woah that small saw you linked kinda might make sense theoretically might be moved often and battery is not yet heavy but this https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-M18-FUEL-ONE-KEY-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Brushless-Cordless-8-1-4-in-Table-Saw-Kit-W-1-12-0Ah-Battery-Rapid-Charger-2736-21HD/305056992 [homedepot.com] this I can't even
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Aiwendil on Friday September 07 2018, @03:07PM (1 child)
Depending on machine some are hooked up to cables (the more stationary machines), they basically have tried to find the optimum solution for each case rather than try to shoehorn in a technology.
And battery powered water heaters exist (makes sense for caravans/mobile homes, and boats (also, a quick search mainly finds 12V DC - which is one of the common electrical systems for such enviornments))
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 07 2018, @07:09PM
Those water heaters are ultimately diesel/gasoline/lpg powered in boats/caravans but then propane heater would have been superior at least by 1/(engine efficiency) but more complex than adding heating element and some cable (because vehicles already have batteries) so this is technically battery powered, the best kind of battery powered so I'll allow that.
Quarry is kinda small and somewhat controlled environment (compared to ocean or highway) So one would expect that cables could be moved in a way similar to electric mover to avoid ruining them over (maybe with help of autonomous battery powered vehicles that would have some water cooling for wound up part of cable)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 07 2018, @03:25PM
I've seen some similar pushing in the oil industry in Canada for moving to electric.
I saw some marketing material several years ago (2014? ish) for a new hydrofrac company in Calgary, AB that was going all-electric. I don't recall the name, and several minutes on google yields nothing. I remember the paint scheme was fairly obnoxious, though. Part of their standard frac spread included a natural gas turbine generator in the megawatts range (came in on three or four semi-trailers, built for quick assembly on-site), and the rest of the usual frac equipment had been fitted with electric motors instead of the usual diesel+hydraulic setup. They'd run large-ish cables to everything, I don't remember seeing the voltage mentioned. 480 3-phase, I'd expect. The cables were festooned with warning labels about the dangers of electricity, running over high-voltage cables, not dropping things like hammers on them, that sort of thing. Frac workers are not generally what you'd call skilled labour.
The story I heard at the time was that they were going after the bigger customers and larger jobs (so instead of going out for the day and hitting two or three wells in separate locations, moving everything each time, they'd go out to a twelve-well pad and take two weeks or more to do all twelve without having to move the equipment again. For example.)
The unbelievable bit is that supposedly the folks who started the company did it with the expectation that they could run the giant natgas genset directly off the natural gas from a nearby well, if the customer had one handy (and frequently they did, on those types of jobs). This turned out to not be the case. The natural gas direct from a well is rarely 'clean' enough to be used directly like that, and that generator was such a thirsty monster that one well could not under any circumstances supply enough fuel to it. They ended up having to truck in fuel, just like everyone else.