Electric grower cranes on the rise

Large customers are switching

Electrification is also on an unstoppable march in the world of pile driving and foundations. The Chinese company Sany, which is marketed in the Benelux by the Dutch company UCM Holland, now has three fully electric cranes in its product range. Customers such as Van 't Hek, VolkerWessels, Ballast Nedam, De Vries Werkendam and Van Schie are already working with the machines.

The electric cranes, which are frequently used - and therefore also inspected - as piling and foundation machines are "selling like hot cakes," says Roland Quarré of UCM Holland. Major customers such as Van 't Hek, VolkerWessels, Ballast Nedam, De Vries Werkendam and Van Schie, who already had the stage V diesel variant, recently purchased an electric variant as well. "Not surprising either, given the increasingly stringent requirements that clients impose on the emissions of heavy construction equipment," states Roland.

The main argument for a crawler-mounted crane - besides their great stability - is that they are made for rough terrain. On top of that, the operator of a crawler crane - unlike a telescopic crane on tires - does not have to work from a fixed position.

Developed in-house

UCM Holland was behind the electrification of Chinese crawler cranes. "The first request for a fully electric crane came from us as an importer," Roland reveals. "Sany then developed and built the machine in-house. For now, though, on its own European assembly line. And despite being a large company, we have short lines of communication and regular contacts at Sany. There is also the European branch of Sany. We started with Stage V machines and gradually upgraded them in many ways to the requirements for the Dutch market. Meanwhile, we saw a growing demand for electric machines." Since the diesel-powered SCE800TB was the best-selling crane at UCM Holland, it was decided to electrify it first. Meanwhile, Sany's 100- and 135-ton lattice boom cranes (SCE1000A-EV and SCE1350A-EV) are also available fully electric. 

What is special about the all-electric SCE800TB-EV - as well as the SCE1000A-EV and the SCE1350A-EV lattice boom cranes - is that they are delivered ex-factory. "We looked at converting the diesel cranes to an electric model for a while, but we estimated that the conversion market in the Netherlands would not be able to handle that in terms of capacity," says Roland. "Moreover, an electric drive requires a different kind of construction of a crane. Sany's R&D department in China is of a tremendously high level in this regard, so this was the best solution." 

Huge load capacities

The Sany SCE800TB-EV features four permanently built-in 600-volt battery packs. The four packages are built into two enclosures and weigh over 1,800 kilograms. They deliver 456 Ah (282 kWh). The slightly higher dead weight (92 tons) compared to the diesel version benefits the lifting table. 

The battery packs can handle huge charging capacities of up to 120 kW.
Moreover, each battery has its own charging socket. With two heavy-duty external fast chargers, you can theoretically fully charge the batteries in two hours. With a full battery, the machine can run a full eight-hour workday without recharging. The new machines are optionally available with a charging point in the track frame. This allows the crane to be charged while working, as well as lifting, slewing and boosting.  

Five-piece boom
The SCE800TB-EV has a five-piece boom of 47 meters and a maximum load moment of 300 ton meters. There is a 7.2-meter swing-away jib and fixed jib options are 10.2 meters and up to 17.5 meters. With the boom fully extended at 47 meters and 26 tons of counterweight at the rear, the chart shows a capacity of 11 tons at a flight of 11 meters.
The maximum transport width for components is 3 meters and it has load tables for use with a smaller counterweight. The maximum rear counterweight is 26 tons and there are two 3-ton blocks with body ballast. It has hydraulically retractable track undercarriages and the cast steel tracks are 850 mm wide.

Course
The Sany Cranes.Services team guides buyers of electric cranes with a special course for operators. For one thing, the operation of an electric crane is slightly different, also the handling around battery charging requires its own approach. In addition, special manuals are available in Dutch. Sany Cranes.Services also ensures that the testing and inspection of the to-be-delivered (electric) cranes takes place on its own location..