However, with hydrogen, the partner firms say: "With these first generation dual fuel machines, COâ‚‚ emissions can be reduced by up to 50%".
Alongside the excavator, CMB.TECH also unveiled its new mobile hydrogen refueller, which it says can deliver up to 600kg of green hydrogen at 350 bar to the consumer. This works for excavators, but also for other applications such as trucks, port equipment, ships and gensets, the firm says. Commenting, Luyckx CEO Jos Luyckx said: "Driven by the wishes of our end users and fleet owners, we launched an own initiative feasibility study with regard to possible alternative solutions that help to reduce COâ‚‚ emissions, make the machine park more sustainable and do business in a socially responsible way. "The challenge was mainly in the area of energy requirements for heavy machinery.Given this vision, the collaboration with CMB.TECH was started in order to convert a 37t excavator [a Hitachi ZX350LC-7] to a dual-fuel engine [hydrogen/diesel], thus taking a first concrete step towards greening the sector.Roy Campe, CMB.TECH CTO, added: "The additional cost of the machines in the sector is rather limited, with the kilogrammes of hydrogen used leading directly to COâ‚‚ reduction. "As of today, we offer the applications to enable up to 8t of COâ‚‚ reduction per site per day, anywhere in the Benelux, without operational restrictions at the lowest possible cost."