Volvo has been a leader in the construction equipment industry in the move toward electrification, and on this episode of The Dirt, we take a closer look at why the company has taken such a stance, where it’s headed and what it sees for the future.
Ray Gallant, Volvo vice president of sustainability, brings us a thought-provoking and refreshingly realistic view of where things stand with battery-electric construction equipment and where it’s headed.
He’ll be the first to tell you it’s not going to replace diesel – at least, not in the next decade or more. Instead, he offers a longer-range view, with research into the history of innovation as a guide, to show where electrification, as well as other technology, is headed and how it will make construction sites much cleaner and more efficient and productive.
Though electric equipment currently doesn’t match the performance of diesel in most earthmoving applications beyond a mini excavator, there are some areas where battery-powered equipment has opened new opportunities. Those include indoor sites and other areas sensitive to noise and pollution. Gallant says we’ll see more of that as the technology progresses.
“Don’t look at it as a replacement for diesel,” he says. “Look at this as, what new applications can I do that I could never do before?”
So don’t miss this episode of The Dirt to get a down-to-earth perspective on electrification – without all the hype – from one of the leading experts in the construction equipment industry.
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In This Episode:
00:00 - Electric Construction Equipment and Beyond
00:41 - Why is Volvo Electrifying Their Equipment?
01:36 - Benefits of Electric Construction Equipment
03:42 - Energy Management for Electric Machines
05:12 - The True Cost of Electric Construction Equipment
06:35 - How Will Electric Equipment Become More Popular?
11:01 - How Telematics Can Revolutionize Job Sites
14:52 - Why History Shows Electric Equipment Will Succeed
17:14 - What Electric Construction Equipment Does Volvo Offer?
19:45 - More Benefits of Electric Construction Equipment
22:27 - Final Thoughts

Video Transcript:
Bryan Furnace:
Today we're here to talk about the new revolution happening in the equipment industry. And right now we all see this on the front lines as electrification. And that's really the way this interview started was talking about electrification. But then my interview candidate Ray from Volvo really blew my mind with how the other side of the industry is thinking about this revolution and it goes far above and beyond electrification. So without further ado, here's my interview with Ray.

Well, Ray, thank you so much for being on the dirt today. I really appreciate your time.
Ray Gallant:
Pleasure to be here, Bryan.
Bryan Furnace:
Well, my first question, I'm just going to hit you right out of the gate with it. The industry really is pushing sustainability pretty hard. While all of us out in the field are kind of really fighting that change. We're very happy with where we are with our nice soot blowing diesel engines. Why is Volvo joining in with the industry on this push towards electrification?
Ray Gallant:
So that's an interesting question and a very straightforward question, if I may say. We believe that sustainability is a worthy goal, a worthy thing to pursue. We recognize that the technology is not advanced to the point where every application can instantly switch tomorrow to a more sustainable basis. Our approach is to switch what we can switch to a more sustainable footprint. But more importantly than that, take the features of these new technologies and take advantage of them going forward.
So electric machines, for instance, battery electric machines are very quiet, have low vibration as well as zero emission. So you're doing good for sustainability and for the environment. But at the same time, because they're quiet, because they have low vibration, they can do applications where traditional diesel machines could not even function. So in around animals or valuable livestock where you don't want the fumes going into livestock. In around food, food sources, in indoors, applications like that, that traditionally are very difficult or expensive to do with diesel equipment or cannot even be done at all, electric equipment has a chance to go in there and do that.
So our push is to find and take advantage of those individual special applications where you can use electric equipment. And as the electric equipment gets better and better and better, and as the technology matures, then it may be a more viable alternative for general construction use. But we're not, at the moment, saying that the technology is ready...