News: Construction

2023-04-16

20-Year Changes in Top Construction OEM Hierarchy

A new animated chart shows the dramatic changes in the evolving hierarchy of the biggest construction equipment manufacturers over 20 years. The chart draws on data from International Construction’s Yellow Table, which tracks the top 50 construction OEMs across the world. The data stretches back to 2003, and up until the latest version in 2022.

Source: International Construction: Read The Article

PSR Analysis: This animated chart is especially interesting in that it allows you to track the growth of up to half a dozen big Chinese OEMs who have grown among the top companies.    PSR

Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research

2023-03-26

Hitachi Construction Machinery Raises Product Prices

JAPAN REPORT
Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Komatsu will continue to raise prices substantially in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024. This will be at the same level as the current fiscal year. The impact of price increases on consolidated operating income is estimated to be in the range of 100 billion yen.

This is approximately 20% of operating income for this fiscal year. Although the impact of high raw material prices will lessen in the next fiscal year, there are concerns about an economic slowdown. While the benefits of the yen’s depreciation will diminish, they will build a profitable structure to further increase the operating profit margin from less than 13% in the current fiscal year.

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Komatsu To Cut China Production Capacity by 40%

CHINA REPORT
Jack Hao
Jack Hao

Komatsu says it plans to restructure its business in China this year, cutting its annual production capacity of construction machinery equipment in China by nearly 40% to 10,000 units.

At the same time, due to sluggish market demand, it will merge its equipment production subsidiary and its parts subsidiary in Jining City, Shandong Province. The production subsidiary and casting subsidiary based in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, also will be merged.

Komatsu’s production subsidiaries in the two provinces previously terminated their joint venture relationship. Even if the annual production capacity is reduced to 10,000 units, it is expected that local production capacity will enable Komatsu to increase exports to Southeast Asia and other regions.

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2023-03-24

CONEXPO CONEXPO 2023 Features Hydrogen, Electric Equipment

Walking CONEXPO 2023, the giant international construction show in Las Vegas this month, it was obvious that OEMs are devoting huge amounts of resources to developing alternative power sources for their compact equipment.

Hydrogen powered units and battery packs were common and new products powered by alternative energy sources were popular with attendees. New technology was the name of the game at this year’s show.

However, there were several prototypes that were built only for the show, according to some exhibitors, and were not likely to be put into mass production anytime soon. In fact, one manufacturer told us, “This was manufactured for the purpose of the exhibition and is not intended for mass production.”

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2023-02-20

Volvo Unveils Electric Concrete Mixer Truck

Guy Youngs
Guy Youngs

Best known for its world-class transport solutions, Volvo unveiled its first commercial electric truck –the Volvo FL Electric – in 2019, this was followed by the Volvo VNR Electric in 2020. Volvo introduced three 44-ton electric trucks this past September, some of the heaviest in its line up, bringing its portfolio to six commercial EV trucks, designed to cover everything from city distribution and handling to construction transport and regional hauling.

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240 Ton EV Mining Truck Can Charge in 30 Minutes

Guy Youngs
Guy Youngs

A 240-ton mining haul truck is being fitted with a 1.4 megawatt-hour (MWh) prototype battery system that global green energy company Fortescue has developed with equipment maker Liebherr.

UK-based engineering company WAE Technologies, (acquired by Fortescue in March 2022), completed and delivered the battery system to Fortescue’s workshop in Perth, Australia. The battery will be assembled and installed in the mining haul truck before it’s transported to the Pilbara in Western Australia for onsite testing this year.

The battery system marks several firsts for an electric mining haul truck battery: In addition to having energy storage of 1.4 MWh, it also has the ability to fast-charge in 30 minutes, and it can regenerate power as it drives downhill.

Source:Electrek: Read The Article

PSR Analysis: This is a good view of the potential for all mining trucks, but it should be noted that a lot of these huge mining trucks are diesel-electric to start with, (a diesel generator powering electric drives), so this is a matter of replacing the generator with the battery pack. They also can recharge on the way down, so the battery size can be relatively smaller.     PSR

Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research

DATAPOINT: NA Dumpers/Tenders, 2023 Production

NA Dumpers/Tenders – Feb. 2023Download

1,790 units is the estimate by Power Systems Research of the number of Dumpers/Tenders to be produced in North America (United States and Canada) in 2023.

A Dumper/Tender is a vehicle designed for carrying bulk material, often on building sites. Dumpers are distinguished from dump trucks by configuration: a dumper is usually an open 4-wheeled vehicle with the load skip in front of the driver, while a dump truck has its cab in front of the load.

This information comes from industry interviews and from two proprietary databases maintained by Power Systems Research: EnginLink™ , which provides information on engines, and OE Link™, a database of equipment manufacturers.

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2023-01-22

JCB Reaches Hydrogen Milestone

JCB’S £100 million investment in a project to produce super-efficient hydrogen engines is going full steam ahead. A team of 100 engineers has been working on the exciting development for more than a year and the 50th JCB hydrogen combustion engine has now come off the production line as part of the development process.

JCB’s hydrogen-fueled backhoe loader is one of three hydrogen vehicles the OEM is developing. JCB hydrogen engines are powering prototype backhoe loaders and Loadall telescopic handlers and the company has recently unveiled its very own designed and built mobile refueling bowser to take fuel to the machines. The bowser has enough hydrogen to fill 16 hydrogen backhoe loaders and can be transported either on the back of a modified Fastrac tractor or on a trailer.

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2023-01-20

Case New Holland(CNH) To Halt Sales of Construction Machinery

CHINA REPORT
Jack Hao
Jack Hao

CNH Industrial Group says it is stopping the sales of construction machinery and equipment in the Chinese market after Dec. 31, 2022. This is another significant development by foreign brands in the Chinese market.

John Deere withdrew from the Chinese market after the original industrial structure was changed by the merger of the Chinese plant of Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. At the same time, Hitachi Construction Machinery also made changes to Hitachi Construction Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., which is responsible for sales and services in China, and set up a new sales and service company, “Hitachi Construction Machinery Sales (China) Co., Ltd.”, which began operating Nov. 1, 2022.

On Dec. 29, 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced that from Dec. 1, 2022, all off-road mobile machines below 560kw (including 560kw) produced, imported and sold and their diesel engines installed shall meet the requirements of the Chinese IV emission standard. The implementation time of Chinese IV emission of off-road mobile machinery above 560kw and its installed diesel engines has not been announced.

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