Heavy Equipment

LiuGong Unveils Cutting-Edge Electric Wheel Loader

The 21-tonne, 856HE has a 3.5 cubic metre bucket capacity.

Updated on

September 25, 2023

LiuGong 856HE wheel loader — The 856HE wheel loader. (Photo: LiuGong)

LiuGong has officially marked its entry into the European market with the launch of a new state-of-the-art 21-tonne electric wheeled loader in the city of London.

The Chinese construction equipment maker made the first delivery of the 856HE wheel loader to the London-based building material company Aggregate Industries, where it has undergone testing over the last six weeks.

This makes the 856HE the world’s first commercially available battery-electric loader.

LiuGong anticipates the delivery of another machine by the year’s end, and Rental Group, a Nordic-based company, has placed an initial order for 20 machines.

Oliver Keates, wheel loader product manager at LiuGong, emphasized the advantages of the electric loaders, stating, “With the Scandinavian machines, green and carbon neutrality are one big benefit, as is the working time of the machine and the cost benefits when compared with a standard diesel machine.”

According to Keates, the charging capacity on the machines will generally increase, and the availability of those chargers will become more frequent.

“The machine also delivers very little noise pollution, but you still have the productivity, efficiency, and ability to have the machine work at full capacity when it needs to,” the official added.

Equipped with a robust 423kWh high-capacity lithium iron phosphate battery supplied by CATL, the 856HE proudly holds the distinction of being the first fully electric wheeled loader introduced to the European market.

LiuGong claims the machine features a duty cycle of up to 11 hours, depending on the tasks it undertakes. It offers two charging options: a standard 10-hour charge or a rapid 45-minute charge, which takes the battery from 25% to 90% capacity.

The 856HE comes with a standard bucket boasting a 3.5-cubic-meter capacity and a payload limit of 6.5 tonnes. This combination of sustainability and performance has been emphasised by the company.

Furthermore, while maintaining servicing intervals equivalent to those of a diesel model (at 1000 hours), the absence of common components found in diesel machines leads to significant cost reductions in servicing, as reported by LiuGong.