This week, Volvo Group held its once-every-three-years “Volvo Days” occasion in Shippensburg, PA for the primary time because the pandemic, exhibiting off tons (actually!) of latest gear, new vans, and new ideas – together with a few “world’s first” debuts.
What’s Volvo Days? That may require a little bit of background …
The heavy gear world operates on one thing of a three-year cycle. ConExpo, the trade’s greatest commerce present, occurs each three years. That units the tone, with firms exhibiting off all their hottest ideas and forward-thinking new initiatives. That’s 12 months 1. Yr 2 is usually when reveals like Volvo Days usually happen, with producers rolling out the manufacturing variations of the ideas they confirmed at ConExpo and welcoming a mixture of sellers, end-users, and journalists in to check out a few of what bought confirmed at ConExpo. Yr 3 is extra insular, with the producers bringing in salespeople to get them educated on new merchandise and put together them for easy methods to discuss what the corporate is planning to point out at subsequent 12 months’s ConExpo.
ConExpo was final 12 months, so this 12 months we get Volvo Days – for the primary time since 2018, in actual fact, because the 2021 occasion was canceled because of COVID. That makes this the primary Volvo Days in six years … and expectations had been excessive.
The kickoff
Volvo kicked off the week’s occasions with a drone show highlighting the corporate’s development gear historical past – applicable, on condition that the occasion was held at Volvo CE’s Pennsylvania engineering and manufacturing campus. The drone present was adopted by a genuinely spectacular, extremely choreographed gear ballet that featured new electrical gear proven for the primary time in North America, in addition to the new-for-2025 Volvo VNL and Mack MD Electrical vans doing a little heavy lifting and hauling.
The present lasted effectively over thirty minutes, and it was not possible for me to maintain monitor of the whole lot that was taking place, however you may get a way of it within the video (above).
Compact electrical gear
Volvo had its new, in-production L20/120 Electrical wheel loader and ECR25 Electrical excavator entrance and middle in its reception middle, together with data highlighting their aggressive benefits within the compact gear area.
The most effective factor about Volvo Days, nevertheless, isn’t that they’ve fascinating automobiles on show – it’s the truth that practically each a type of fascinating automobiles is on the market to expertise first hand … together with the 30-ton EC230 Electrical excavator.
All the electrical excavators (even the mini) had been extremely easy and quiet, with noticeably fewer vibrations than their diesel counterparts … which we additionally bought to play with.
That mentioned, I’m not a “actual” gear operator, which implies my seat of the pants impressions are in all probability price lower than these of the individuals who use this stuff on daily basis. That’s why I used to be glad to have Mike Switzer, my co-host on The Heavy Gear Podcast, alongside for the trip.
“It’s actually spectacular, and the articulation on the Steelwrist is unbelievable,” Mike instructed me, after hopping out of the demo EC230. “I’ve seen it earlier than, clearly, however I’ve by no means had an opportunity to make use of it. I feel each municipality wants to try that.”
Electrical compaction
Over on the compaction aspect, Volvo had its DD25 Electrical vibrating drum compactor on show – the place the all-electric tandem curler was joined by two all-new siblings being proven off for the primary time ever: a pre-production DD15 Electrical “mini” compactor prototype seemingly designed for sidewalks and driveways, and the TC13 Electrical trench compactor.
The TC13 Electrical is designed as a walk-behind unit that makes use of its heavy batteries to offer the compaction mass – however these heavy batteries gained’t get depleted within the hour or so of operation that the majority trench compactors see on a busy day. To maintain the little TC13 helpful all through the day, Volvo gave it a pair of 110 and 220V retailers.
Specs weren’t launched, however Volvo’s compaction model supervisor claimed these retailers had been greater than able to conserving the remainder of the job web site’s battery-operated instruments working all day lengthy, and even packed sufficient juice (in a pinch) to energy a transportable workplace, desk noticed, or drill press.
“Did you see his face once I requested if it might run an arc welder?” requested Mike, smiling. “He mentioned, ‘It’s not one thing we’d advise,’ however you possibly can inform he appreciated that query.”
Yeah, he did!
Electrek’s Take
Someplace across the twenty minute mark of the “gear ballet” present, one thing broke inside my mind. I feel it was the sparks flying off the bucket when the L20 Electrical scooped up just a few thousand kilos of gravel and sand at full pace, scraping its bucket alongside the bottom. Possibly it was the hydrogen-powered articulated loader, or the open bar.
Regardless, one factor that was made very clear at Volvo Days ’24 is that, whereas different firms are nonetheless creating the preliminary entries into the electrical industrial automobile area, Volvo has not only a full line of merchandise – however an increasing line of merchandise, with the corporate coming into new areas particularly due to the distinctive benefits electrical gives.
As Volvo’s North American President, Scott Younger, explains, the long run is electrical, and Volvo’s imaginative and prescient for the long run has the corporate firmly within the management place … however extra on that partly 2.
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