This week, Volvo Group held its once-every-three-years “Volvo Days” occasion in Shippensburg, PA for the primary time because the pandemic, displaying off tons (actually!) of latest tools, new vehicles, 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 tools 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 corporations displaying off all their hottest ideas and forward-thinking new initiatives. That’s 12 months 1. 12 months 2 is usually when exhibits 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 acquired confirmed at ConExpo. 12 months 3 is extra insular, with the producers bringing in salespeople to get them skilled on new merchandise and put together them for learn how to speak about 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 reality, because the 2021 occasion was canceled attributable to 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 tools historical past – acceptable, provided 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 tools ballet that featured new electrical tools proven for the primary time in North America, in addition to the new-for-2025 Volvo VNL and Mack MD Electrical vehicles performing some heavy lifting and hauling.
The present lasted properly over thirty minutes, and it was unattainable for me to maintain monitor of every part that was taking place, however you may get a way of it within the video (above).
Compact electrical tools
Volvo had its new, in-production L20/120 Electrical wheel loader and ECR25 Electrical excavator entrance and heart in its reception heart, together with data highlighting their aggressive benefits within the compact tools house.
The very best factor about Volvo Days, nevertheless, isn’t that they’ve attention-grabbing automobiles on show – it’s the truth that practically each a kind of attention-grabbing automobiles is accessible 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 acquired to play with.
That mentioned, I’m not a “actual” tools operator, which suggests my seat of the pants impressions are in all probability price lower than these of the individuals who use this stuff day-after-day. That’s why I used to be glad to have Mike Switzer, my co-host on The Heavy Gear Podcast, alongside for the experience.
“It’s actually spectacular, and the articulation on the Steelwrist is unimaginable,” Mike informed 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 facet, 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 received’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 shops.
Specs weren’t launched, however Volvo’s compaction model supervisor claimed these shops had been greater than able to conserving the remainder of the job website’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 may run an arc welder?” requested Mike, smiling. “He mentioned, ‘It’s not one thing we’d advise,’ however you could possibly inform he favored that query.”
Yeah, he did!
Electrek’s Take
Someplace across the twenty minute mark of the “tools ballet” present, one thing broke inside my mind. I feel it was the sparks flying off the bucket when the L20 Electrical scooped up a couple of thousand kilos of gravel and sand at full velocity, scraping its bucket alongside the bottom. Perhaps 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 corporations are nonetheless growing the preliminary entries into the electrical business automobile house, Volvo has not only a full line of merchandise – however an increasing line of merchandise, with the corporate getting into new areas particularly due to the distinctive benefits electrical presents.
As Volvo’s North American President, Scott Younger, explains, the longer term is electrical, and Volvo’s imaginative and prescient for the longer term has the corporate firmly within the management place … however extra on that partially 2.
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