LeeBoy has unveiled its first commercial-class electric asphalt paver, the 8520C E-Paver, as a prototype machine.
Based on the company’s best-selling 11-ton heavy-commercial 8520C, LeeBoy has replaced the 125-horsepower Kubota diesel engine with a General Motors electric drive system. The company collaborated with GM on the prototype, along with Powertrain Control Solutions, which provided engineering support.
Aside from the powertrain components, everything else on the paver is the same as the diesel model, said Brian Hall, LeeBoy asphalt training specialist, during the paver’s debut at ConExpo in March. That includes the hydraulics, the control panels and the screed.
“The only thing that's different is there's a place on the control panel screen where you turn it on; you actually have to engage the battery like you would a starter, and it tells you that it's on," Hall said. "… All the components, all the part numbers will be exactly the same, with the exception of the engine components.”
Most everything on LeeBoy's 8520C E-Paver is the same as the diesel model except the GM electric-drive components.LeeBoy
It runs on a 48-kilowatt-hour battery pack and a 150-kilowatt electric-drive motor. It can be charged by a 120- or 240-volt AC on-board charger, with rapid charging available.
Hall says that when it is hooked up to a 240-volt outlet, it will get 10% charge per hour, which would be equivalent to a full charge when left plugged in overnight.
