It’s the holy grail of the construction equipment industry: high performance, reduced fuel consumption and lower emissions – all at a reasonable price.
Alternative energy technology developer UQM Technologies aims to make this grail a reality. The 25-year-old company has already developed concept hybrid vehicles with John Deere, and with Vehicle Projects LLC, which operates a consortium that includes heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar.
“There’s a lot more to it than just saving fuel,” said William Rankin, president and chief executive of UQM Technologies, based in Fredrick, Colo. “It isn’t going backward in performance.”
Rankin said there used to be a stigma associated with electric motors that led people to believe a product’s performance would drop by using the technology. He said its cost was also too great for industrial application beyond one-off concept vehicles.
“The benefits [of electric propulsion] are more affordable for the investment required to get it into the vehicle,” Rankin said.
Reduced prices for digital signal processor technology, as well as increased production of rare-earth magnets were two primary instigators for the lowered cost of electric motors.
The current trend of hybrid engine technology automobile manufacturers Honda, Toyota and Ford are using could be applied to off-road construction equipment, Rankin said.
