Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - February 2023 - 7

TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS
Danfoss partnered with
Stefan Eichler, senior sales development
manager, Editron.
" Electrification is about
charging. The starting
point should always be
what is the infrastructure
around your machine
and what is the charging
power available? "
Yin continued: " The system test stage
occurred in the middle of summer, with
the outside temperature reaching nearly
40 degrees Celsius (104 deg F). Despite
this scorching heat, the Danfoss team
was always available to provide on-site
support within less than a day's notice. "
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering interviewed
Stefan Eichler, senior sales
development manager for Editron, at
Bauma 2022 where he discussed further
details of the electrified Sany crane, the
development challenges that electrified
construction machines present, and
how Danfoss views the future of electrification
in the off-highway sector.
Taking charge
" The machine we exhibited here is the
end result of a lot of development, "
Eichler said. " It is zero emissions when
it is at its place of work and was designed
specifically for areas of the
world where customers are being told
that they need to achieve this by local
regulations by a certain timeframe. "
Eichler discussed the details of the
crane's charging strategy and how its
battery life is maximized. " The system is
designed to not use all of its energy, " he
explained. " We try to avoid emptying
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
and filling it completely to provide the
maximum lifetime. At the same time, we
always aim to get the maximum charging
power of the machine. "
" Electrification is about charging, " he
continued. " The starting point should always
be what is the infrastructure around
your machine and what is the charging
power available? The key to that is finding
the source for it. It is very rare that a machine
like this will be in an environment
where it can pull a high level of power for
charging. Charging speed is usually far
more dependent on the socket. "
Customary expectations
Eichler also detailed the challenges of
electrifying off-highway machines as
well as meeting customer expectations
with relatively new tech. " Our customers
usually want to start the discussion
about electrification on the motor side, "
he said. " But in reality, this is the far end
of the specification. It is our experience
that, if you start at that end, you fail. If
you start with what power is available
and what capacity do you need, you
can determine the answers to questions
like machine size and battery capacity. "
Eichler explained the company's process
for determining what a customer's
needs are to properly develop the machine
that fits their needs. " We ask
questions like, 'What energy does your
machine need for one workday? What
efficiency can you gain by electrification?'
Customers are coming to us because
they know we are a very reliable
supplier for meeting our promises. So,
you have to meet these expectations
even with new technology. That's the
biggest challenge for us. "
Webasto to supply the battery
packs for its electric powertrains.
Adapting battery technology to modern
construction machines is not without
its pain points. " The biggest source
of trouble is the battery or fuel cells,
because this is not a mature technology, "
Eichler said. " Batteries are very
new in this world and fuel cells are even
newer. There is no mature product portfolio
and there are many new players. "
" Where a lot of OEMs run into trouble
on the battery side specifically is that
they overpromise, " Eichler continued.
" This is why we teamed up with
Webasto, in order to limit this risk. We
needed a strong partner to make sure
we can supply our customers with a
running machine. "
Footing the bill
One of the talking points of electrification
for all mobility sectors is the cost of
entry. The off-highway market is no exception.
" From a traditional hydraulic
system to an electric one, the unit gets
three times more expensive minimum, "
Eichler said. " So regardless of size or
capacity, your final machine will be much
more expensive than before. The question
becomes, who is paying this bill?
Despite the cost increase of electrified
machines, Eichler still sees electrification
as a necessary measure not only for decarbonization,
but also as a necessity for
energy conservation. " There is no cheap
energy anymore, " he explained. " So, we
have to save energy. We cannot afford to
have efficiencies of 60% or less in our
machines. Over 20% of carbon emissions
worldwide come directly from construction
sites. This is exactly what we cannot
afford anymore. "
Matt Wolfe
February 2023 7
BOTH IMAGES: DANFOSS
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - February 2023

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