Weekly recap: John Deere’s first electric excavator, 2023 construction trends, and more

To start off 2023, John Deere revealed its first electric excavator during the keynote address at CES, Dressta launched two new crawler dozers in North America, and Loftness updated its Battle Ax S Series mulching head. Plus, Procore has shared some of the Canadian construction trends to watch out for in 2023, and a pair of Liebherr wheeled excavators were converted to hydrogen fuel cell systems. Here are five articles from this week you won't want to miss.

John Deere's first electric excavator revealed

During the keynote address at CES 2023, John Deere revealed two new offerings that included a brand-new electric excavator. The excavator is seen in photos as the 145 X-Tier and, as John Deere says, will help provide construction workers and road builders with lower operating costs, reduced job site noise, increased machine reliability, and zero emissions operation without sacrificing power and performance.

Learn more about John Deere's first electric excavator in the full article.

Liebherr excavators converted to hydrogen with fuel cell systems from zepp.solutions

A pair of Liebherr wheeled excavators operated by Netherlands-based contracting company Jos Scholman have been refitted to use hydrogen fuel cells using systems from zepp.solutions. The conversion was done by Terberg Techniek, using two hydrogen storage and Y50 fuel cell systems, to convert the 916 Litronic wheeled machines from diesel to hydrogen-electric. The excavators have undergone six months of operational testing that has shown they are reliable and perform as expected, offering an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional power options.

Find out more about the pair of Liebherr wheeled excavators converted to hydrogen in the full article.

Two new Dressta crawler dozers feature redesigned cabs and high torque

Dressta has launched two new crawler dozers in North America, the TD-15M and TD-25M. The machines are targeted to two different size classes and feature improvements to reduce costs and improve operator comfort. The TD-15M is targeted at the mid-size dozer range while the TD-25M is a heavy-duty crawler dozer. The machines utilize a turbocharged Cummins engine and electro-hydraulic controlled proportional joysticks. 

Learn more about Dressta's two new crawler dozers in the full article.

Canadian construction trends to watch in 2023

Jas Saraw, Procore's vice president of Canada, has shared some of the construction trends to watch out for going into 2023. He expects a year of challenges and changes in the Canadian construction industry as the continued labour shortage remains and job sites integrate more technologies to increase efficiency. Procore has tracked trends like the labour shortage, integrated project delivery, increased drone use, clean energy, and more and expects these trends to become more apparent in 2023.

Learn more about the Canadian construction trends to watch in 2023 in the full article.

Updated Loftness mulching head brings serviceability and durability enhancements

Loftness has updated its Battle Ax S Series mulching head with new features for enhanced durability and serviceability. The mulching head is designed for skid steers and compact track loaders with 28 to 62.9 GPM hydraulic flow and 50 to 150 hydraulic horsepower. A reversible secondary shear bar in the two-stage cutting chamber always allows a fresh cutting edge when using the S Series mulching head. The mulching head also uses a bolt-on design to easily replace the shear bar once each cutting edge has been exhausted.

Find out more about Loftness' updated Battle Ax S Series mulching head in the full article.