Anyone know why cat discounted the d7e electric drive dozer?
Were they not stupidly expensive that the majority that were sold went to places where essentially the taxpayer funded them and thus were not profit driven? Municipalities or corporations with government contracts?
Because they were sh1te.?
I did some work on one of the field test proto types with the cat engineer. He was after me the whole time that I should run it. I finally did when he wasn't around, Before he went back to Peoria I had to tell him it was a really nice machine to run. The other thing I remember was the ac oil was very pricey
That is good news to hear.
They were the cost of a D8 but did the work of a D7 ! D7 is back to the high drive mechanical powertrain. You can however get the same style (but high drive) electric drive in the new D6XE or D11XE.
I’m going to take a guess here on the D7E debate. I only ever came across 2 in the UK,one of which was a 2011 machine if I recall. The owner bought it second hand with around 7000 hours on and I thought it could prove to be a fatal error.It was new,unproven technology and only maintained predominantly by Finnings due to nobody having the relevant training to fix the beast. Well,the owner was/is of a successful nature and was able to keep the machine in strong order. As for performance,I have to disagree with Nige for the first time in my life (sorry mate) it was a very good tractor in every way. The machine has now been sold recently and replaced. The other one is still in operation and belongs to another solid company that pulls a hydraulic Cat 463G on their own contracts.It’s a beautiful looking combination and they seem well pleased with it.
However,from my own personal perspective running equipment on a wing and a prayer,I wouldn’t touch it with a barge poll regardless of its performance. If I can’t fix it myself or get Tony in to take over the job,then I’d be totally reliant on Finnings which would be financially crippling to my small business. So,I’m out.
Back to why Cat made it and discontinued it in the first place. In a nutshell,I reakon it was used to pave the way in research and development of the electric D6. If Cat had experimented on their D6 flagship tractors,they could have faced big problems in their bank account.
Waste Management turned out to be the largest purchaser of the D7E. I guess they had a fair amount of success using them as landfill tractors. I’ve talked about it before. The Anchorage Airport got one to push snow with. I wonder if it’s still around.
Nicky is on the right lines insofar as the D7E was the first venture into diesel electric drive, if you discount the mining trucks which are a different technology altogether. Yes, the D7 paved the way for the D6 XE, but the D6 XE is different again technology wise. The D7E diesel electric is something of an orphan. Cat's current Diesel-electric Switched Reluctance system is now well established in the D6 XE, 988 XE and R2900 XE, and is performing well. Diesel-electric D11 XE is not yet on the market.