R. Breure bv: specialized and innovative for 40 years

R. Breure bv has been characterized as a specialist and innovative contractor in civil engineering for 40 years. The first Dutch bituminous joint crossing without anchoring was created by the Zwanenburg family business and the company is fully committed to the electrification of its young machinery. The most recent addition is an in-house electrified 8-ton crawler crane that is now being used successfully on emission-free projects.

R. Breure was founded on March 1, 1984 and exists exactly 40 years this year. " At that time I started hiring myself out with a mobile crane at Schiphol Airport," says Ruud Breure. "In the years that followed, we grew bigger and bigger. We now work with more than 30 employees and an extensive fleet of machinery on a wide variety of infrastructure projects. We are engaged in ripping bridge decks and demolishing the associated joint crossings to major earth moving. In addition, we specialize in asphalt repair, such as filling cracks and applying wearing courses, and we have even developed our own joint transition. The Breure FPEJ (Flexible Plug-in Expansion Joint) is the first Dutch bituminous joint transition with a proven long service life without the need for anchoring in a structure."

Leading the way

In recent years, R. Breure has invested heavily in the electrification of its machinery. "We like to be at the forefront and take our responsibility to reduce our CO2 footprint," says Ruud. "For example, we have a 2-ton electric crane, a 2-ton electric shovel and all tools are now electric. The diesel generators have been replaced by battery packs and our bitumen boilers are electrified in-house. Furthermore, we collect all the rainwater from our yard so that we need to use as little tap water as possible. And of course we use solar panels and drive electric whenever possible. Thus, every year we become a little bit 'greener' every year, mostly working with and relying on the expertise of local partners."

SMR 85

Most recent development is the 8-ton electric crawler crane. "An electric machine in this range did not yet exist," Ruud knows. "Because we were getting more and more requests to carry out emission-free projects, we decided to (re)build a machine in-house. The starting point was that no concessions would be made to the performance and comfort of the donor machine, a JCB that was only two years old. Together with Stefan van der Hulst, an expert in the electrification of equipment, we developed and built the RBE 85 in-house with electrical components from Elsto Smart Solutions." The conversion process was monitored, tested and CE marked by an independent agency. R. Breure is now the official manufacturer of the machine.

Backpack

According to Ruud, the donor machine remained intact as much as possible, only the diesel engine and fuel tank were replaced with an electric motor and battery pack. "That usually makes for a heftier rear end, but we deliberately avoided that. The electrical components were fitted into the original design. The bodywork and all the covers have remained the same. In fact, the RBE 85 can only be recognized by the "backpack" on the cab, which houses another battery pack. This allows us to run for over nine hours with the machine." After an extensive test period, the RBE 85 is now used for all regular work, from ripping a bridge deck to laying cables and pipes. "Even the most critical machine operators find it a breath of fresh air to work with the electric RBE 85." This will undoubtedly be followed up!