The excavator’s powertrain also includes a 122 kW electric motor, which remains almost silent – though the hydraulic pumps can be heard.

Øivind Larsen, Veidekke’s construction director, says the single machine will save reduce their CO2 emissions by 52 tonnes.

He said:

“For us, it is important to use new technology that helps to reduce emissions from our machine park, and not least to improve everyday life for those who use the machines,”

The executive believes that if construction companies would replace all of the approximately 2,500 excavators of similar sizes in the country, it would result in the equivalent of removing 60,000 cars from the roads.

It’s the latest example of the electrification of transport spreading to other industries.

Now construction and mining equipment are being increasingly electrified.

We previously reported on a dumper truck that became the world’s largest electric vehicle with a massive 700 kWh battery pack.

More recently, Volvo’s construction equipment division announced that it is going electric for all its smaller machines.

Caterpillar has been especially interested in electrifying its lineup and it even invested in Fisker last year – citing interest in their solid-state battery technology.