New battery electric vehicles from LiuGong

Original equipment manufacturer LiuGong has presented new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and a remote controlled intelligent wheeled loader based on 5G technology at the BICES show in Beijing, China.

The three BEVs are two excavators, the 906E-EV and 922F-EV, and the 856H-EV wheeled loader.

“The total operating cost of a battery powered earthmover is, or soon will be, depending on the exact vehicle design and customer application, lower than that of a diesel-powered machine,” said Edward Wagner, executive director of LiuGong New Technology.

The BEVs use lithium-ion battery systems for energy storage. That power is directed into high efficiency permanent magnet electric motors to create the motion necessary to drive the machines. LiuGong say that a typical BEV will have a peak power output two times that of a conventional diesel-powered machine.

The first generation of the BEVs’ batteries are equipped with fast charging technology and energy-saving technologies, which need one hour to charge the battery to 80% full. According to the company, its diesel excavators can be quickly converted to battery electric vehicles. 

At BICES, LiuGong also presented its new 5G-based remote-control intelligent wheeled loader, co-developed and supported by China Telecom and Huawei technology.

According to Cai Dengsheng, deputy chief engineer of LiuGong’s Intelligent Technology Institution, the model can be remotely controlled from over 2,000km away, realising real-time response and accurate control through the 5G network.

Under remote-control driving mode, all operations can be observed from the videos that are sent back by the cameras on the machine. It also uses intelligent protection technology to realise automatic identification and auto emergency stop. As a result, the machine can be used in dangerous and unsafe environments.