Strabag deploys electric construction machinery at Oberhausen Construction Site
Amid the conversion of an existing soil treatment plant in Oberhausen, construction group Strabag has implemented the concept of a partially electric construction site and tested it under real world conditions. The equipment used included electric excavators, electric road pavers, and a mobile battery storage system.
The range of electric construction machinery continues to grow, as demonstrated last year at the leading trade fair Bauma in Munich. However, fully electric construction sites – and the machinery and equipment they require – aren't yet present in Germany. According to the Technical University of Munich – which is involved in the new research project ForBat@Bau – locally emission-free and energy-efficient construction site breakthroughs have so far been hindered primarily by the lack of collaboration and streamlined processes among the various stakeholders.
For Strabag, one of Europe's largest construction companies, deploying multiple electric machines on a single construction site is still a rarity. However, the company has now trialled a partially electric construction site in Oberhausen. The goal was to assess the technical performance of electric construction machinery under real-world conditions and gather valuable practical insights for future applications, the company stated.
Specifically, eleven fully electric construction machines were used in the refurbishment of a soil processing plant, where demolition debris from building demolitions is recycled into materials for road construction. Following the upgrade, the plant's annual processing capacity will increase from 120,000 tonnes to 350,000 tonnes.
The eleven electric machines included, among others, a 25-tonne excavator (manufacturer unknown), a battery-electric wheel loader (Model L 507 E from Liebherr), a mobile crane (also from Liebherr), and a road paver (manufacturer unknown) – all fully electric. The battery-electric mobile crane, for example, was used to position two precast concrete shafts with integrated lamella clarifiers for surface water treatment. To ensure a stable power supply for the electric construction machines and mitigate peak loads, a mobile battery storage system with a capacity of 153 kWh was deployed.
"We're not just building a soil treatment plant here – we're breaking down preconceptions. With this electric construction site, we're demonstrating that electric mobility is already a practical reality in the construction industry. Real-world experience on the building site is more convincing than any theory," said Robert Kucza, Sustainability Expert at Strabag's North Rhine-Westphalia division.
According to Strabag, the results of the trial show that heavy electric construction machines already achieve performance levels comparable to conventional diesel-powered equipment – with less construction noise and zero local CO₂ emissions. While the initial purchase costs are still higher than those of diesel machines, they are partially offset by lower operating costs. For instance, energy costs at the Oberhausen site were reduced by around 90 per cent. Maintenance costs are also significantly lower than those of diesel-powered machines.
However, Strabag highlights that challenges remain for widespread adoption: fully electric construction machines are not yet available in all sizes and for all applications. Additionally, the ability to establish a high-performance charging infrastructure on construction sites is often limited by location. As a result, Strabag ultimately adopted a practical hybrid approach for the Oberhausen site, using machines fuelled with HVO100. HVO100 was also used as a diesel substitute for logistics transport.