New fully electric mixer from Renault Trucks drives on five axles
According to the manufacturer, the electric mixer can carry up to 10 m3 of concret – which is allegedly more than any diesel equivalent “in most European countries.” These conventional mixers have room for up to eight cubic metres of concrete, says Renault Trucks.
Building electric mixers is not easy, the French point out. “Concrete transport requires a high payload for both technical and economic reasons.”
The reason is that this is “a unique five-axle model” called the E-Tech C 10×4. Renault Trucks opted for the five-axle design to counteract the fact that – due to battery weight – electric trucks often have a lower capacity than comparable diesel models. The batteries were moved behind the cab, freeing up chassis space, which allowed the companies to shorten the wheelbase and reduce the turning radius. The vehicle should thus still be extremely manoeuvrable and suitable for urban use and tight construction sites – despite the additonal axle.
The electric mixer has a range of up to 110 kilometres on one charge or up to 140 kilometres with a 45-minute intermediate charge. “This truck can complete four daily trips of 35 km, a distance well suited to typical routes between concrete plants and construction sites,” the French truck maker emphasises.
Schwing-Stetter has also developed an all-electric drum for the truck mixer, which is powered directly by the truck’s batteries. With this integrated solution, the company wants to enable low-CO2 operation even when the truck arrives at its destination. That should also have a noticeable impact on the user’s wallet: the Renault E-Tech C 10×4 should ensure “a competitive cost per transported cubic meter of concrete compared to diesel models.”
According to the press release, the Renault Trucks E-Tech C 10×4 “will be available in Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Finland, Slovakia and Lithuania, where regulations allow five-axle rigid trucks to operate at up to 42 tonnes.”
Incidentally, parent company Volvo Trucks delivered its first all-electric ready-mix concrete mixer in 2023. The Volvo FMX Electric was handed over to building materials manufacturer Cemex in Berlin. It had previously signed a deal with Danish concrete manufacturer Unicon, which eleven Volvo FM Electric into concrete mixers.
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