AEM: GET SMARTER ABOUT FUTURE OF ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT

Rock Hawg Line of Surface Miners Makes Heavy Civil Projects a Breeze

The 1150 RH XHD leveling an on-ramp on a critical interstate project in Dallas, Texas.

TESMEC from page 8

Right next door to Mesa Equipment, Mike Sanders of Central Backhoe & Utilities, concluded that the Rock Hawg was the answer to oil pad construction in West Texas and New Mexico and proceeded with the purchase of a 1475 RH and a 1150 RH in 2019. Working on federal jobs at the U.S. border wall and countless heavy civil projects in South and Central Texas, Sanders has become one of the most prominent and knowledgeable users of the Rock Hawg technology in the Lone Star State.

Each Rock Hawg model has its place and benefits. However, heavy civil contractors seem to really like the 1150 RH due to its good performance and one-load transportability since it weighs approximately 130,000 lbs.

David Saab of SPS Pipeline, a proud owner of an 1150 RH, surely agrees after his successful project building a right-of-way for a major railroad project in the Kansas and Oklahoma flint hills.

A similarly inspired project also is proving a perfect match for the Rock Hawg line of surface miners: the Tren Maya. In 2021, the Mexican Government’s Tourism Fund (FONATUR) greenlit a 1,000-mi. passenger train from Campeche to Cancun, QRO and back. This massive project is crossing many states and many geological formations, with some of the main stretches being in hard limestone. Due to the proximity to live transmission lines, hotels and federal highways, blasting is not allowed.

Bernardo Romero, owner of KIIN Mexico, approached Tesmec USA Inc. in 2021 to discuss the 1475 RH and its potential performance in 10,000 psi limestone. Romero’s knowledge and the 1475 RH have proven vastly successful: the 1475 RH cuts the right-of-way during the day, and, while waiting for other equipment to catch up, it is moved to a limestone quarry to produce base.

From canal building in south Florida, housing pads in Las Vegas, office buildings in Nashville, Tenn., underground salt mines in North America and mining operations in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, the Rock Hawg keeps meeting and exceeding customer expectations.

For more information about machine availability and pricing, visit marketing@tesmec.com.  (All photos courtesy of Tesmec.)

The 1150 RH EVO clearing the pad for a new commercial hub in the Texan Hill Country.

AEM: Get Smarter About Future of Electric Equipment in Construction

Sustainability in the construction industry is being advanced by the public and private sectors. Governments are adopting more clean-air regulations at local and regional levels and companies are adopting sustainability policies and asking partners to help them meet their targets.

Consequently, many manufacturers have already developed – or are in the process of developing – electric-powered construction equipment to meet increasing emissions regulations, provide efficiency improvements, and lower operating costs. All electric, electric/hydraulic, and battery-operated versions rival their diesel and gas counterparts in performance, noted Joel Honeyman, vice president of global innovation at Bobcat.

Changing Industry

“People say electric machines are not going to perform as well as a diesel machine,” Honeyman said. “That is simply not true. In many cases they can outperform them.

“Many people are so used to what they have and are afraid of new technology. Some companies have been running diesel- and gas-powered equipment for 40, 50 years. Hydraulics have been on equipment for 80 years. Adjusting to an electric-powered machine is quite a paradigm shift.”

Future

“We see electric-powered technologies and their applications spilling into our industry,” said Honeyman. “Look at what is happening in the auto industry. Tesla has really driven the battery electric concept and an entire industry is shifting.”

Green construction technology is only getting better and smarter with new machine and equipment applications and opportunities, he added.

Among the many advantages of electrification, said Honeyman, are “noise and vibration reduction, instantaneous power and software features that are otherwise unavailable with a diesel engine and hydraulics.”

Matt Sagaser, director of innovation accelerated at Bobcat’s Acceleration Center, added that “the software features allow us to advance and accelerate the technology. We are doing it in a way that is more efficient and cost-effective, and beyond expectations from a power perspective. Overall, our electric innovations allow us to offer customers an experience they may not have previously imagined.

“We could have very easily removed the diesel engine and replaced it with a battery. Instead, our innovation team, which leads this project, wanted to see what other advantages we could achieve if we made it all electric and removed the hydraulics as well. That opened up a lot of possibilities.”

Honeyman and Sagaser will hold an Education Session – “Electrifying the Future: Get Plugged In” – at ConExpoCon/AGG 2023. They will examine the advantages of electric construction equipment beyond just being “green.” They also will discuss what an all-electric platform allows construction equipment manufacturers to do. 