{"id":74035,"date":"2024-07-06T16:17:40","date_gmt":"2024-07-06T20:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=74035"},"modified":"2024-07-06T16:17:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-06T20:17:40","slug":"liebherr-says-its-big-hydrogen-wheel-loader-beats-bevs-are-they-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=74035","title":{"rendered":"Liebherr says its big hydrogen wheel loader beats BEVs \u2013\u00a0are they right?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\"Liebherr<\/figure>\n

Liebherr is pressing ahead with its efforts to phase out fossil fuels on its job sites, but they don\u2019t think battery-electric is the best solution for the heaviest heavy equipment<\/a> \u2013\u00a0and the company\u2019s latest hydrogen-powered wheel loader seems like it\u2019s struggling to prove that point.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Despite the company\u2019s efforts to convert some of the largest construction and mining machines on Earth to battery-electric<\/a> power (efforts that have seen more than a million tons of material muscled aside<\/a>),\u00a0the company says it\u2019s struggling to make a 40+ ton electric wheel loader make commercial sense. <\/p>\n

At first blush, these seem like contradictory statements \u2013\u00a0but hang on. Mining equipment like massive excavators and 100+ ton haul trucks spend a ton of time in one place, and tend to operate in environments that have consistent access to grid power. That\u2019s why it makes sense for Liebherr to electrify its 300 ton mobile container crane<\/a>, but why it may not make sense to electrify anything much bigger than their L 507 E compact loader<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Liebherr believes batteries don\u2019t makes sense for equipment like this 40 ton wheel loader that could be asked to operate in areas where electricity might be hard to come by. And, while Volvo is working on ways to bring power to the job site<\/a> and Moog is working on modular batteries to do the same thing<\/a>, Liebherr is pushing hydrogen combustion as a solution for job sites that require hundreds of kW of work to be done on a single shift.<\/p>\n

And, as an off-road solution, it\u2019s worth noting that MW-scale batteries would be so heavy, using current technology, that they\u2019re just as likely to sink into the mud and earth as they are to effectively move it.<\/p>\n

Liebherr L 566 H wheel loader<\/h2>\n
\"\"
Liebherr L 566 H and MAN hydrogen semi; via Liebherr<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though Liebherr didn\u2019t release any specs on its L 566 H, the diesel-powered\u00a0L 566 Liebherr wheel loader\u00a0has an operating weight range of up to 58,310 pounds<\/a>, and is capable of carrying buckets up to 15.7 cubic yards (for context, a full-sized pickup bed has a 2-3 yard capacity and can haul about one yard of sand and gravel).<\/p>\n

The L566 H is expected to perform at least as well as its diesel-fueled counterpart, but with a fraction of the tailpipe emissions.<\/p>\n

That said, getting the hydrogen to the tractor remains as big a problem as getting electricity to it. \u201cTo make progress in hydrogen research, we need to have access to hydrogen,\u201d says Dr. Ing. Herbert Pfab, Chief Technical Officer of Liebherr Bischofshofen. \u201cWe built this filling station (at the Liebherr plant in Bischofshofen) to further advance our goals for decarbonizing construction machinery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Electrek\u2019s Take<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"