http://www.komatsu.com/CompanyInfo/press/2008051315113604588.html 25% fuel savings? Gotta love technology!
who's gonna be able to fix that???
It probably will not be too difficult to fix. There will be an electric motor, some more cables/wires, a monitor panel and wiring, and then a set of capacitors. Diagnosing the electrical can be a pain, but the other stuff will be farily easy.
as long as fuel prices stay rigged the way they are, that's going to be a competitive machine.
how much more are they going to cost $$$$ !
Volvo just came out with a hybrid loader http://www.volvo.com/constructionequipment/na/en-us/products/Innovations/hybrids/Introduction.htm
the 200 komatsu excavator will cost 27 million yen....or approx 263k american dollars...buy a lot of fuel for 100k
I'm curious on how they are going to charge the capaciter the first time the operator wants to swing the machine. Is there a battery or hydraulic motor? Does the operator have to pick up the boom and have someone push it around? I do think the idea has a lot of merit because the swing takes a whole lot of power and fuel consumption.
True -- but it's not available to purchase just yet. (And likewise for the Cat D7E.)
the article says that there will be a generator on board, which will power the swing motor. the swing motor will also act as a generator when it is braking, but it wont charge the capacitors to full charge just by itself.