Electric asphalt crusher cuts road making emissions 

Fulton Hogan is putting a fully electric mobile asphalt crusher to work as it looks to cut emissions from its heaviest equipment. 

The Belgian-designed Keestrack R3e, supplied locally by Equip2, is now being used in the company’s asphalt recycling plant in Mt Wellington, Auckland. 

The asphalt recycling plant is a major environmental initiative, and the new machine is playing a key role in producing asphalt mixes that are up to 30% recycled for Auckland roads.

It works by crushing old asphalt into little pieces so it can be reused for future roading projects and create a circular economy in road making. 

The electric crusher – believed to be the first of its kind in Australasia – was commissioned shortly after Fulton Hogan introduced another large-scale piece of electrically powered (augmented) equipment with the world’s first Volvo EC480EL 50 tonne hybrid excavator.

Equip2 general manager Bert Hart says according to calculations by manufacturer Keestrack, the electric crusher will save around 78 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year compared with its low fuel burn Keestrack R3h diesel machine, based on it running 1000 hours per year. The CO2 emission savings would be over 100 tonnes per year compared with less efficient diesel-powered crushers.

Equip2 specialises in supplying quarries, recyclers and materials businesses with machinery to sort, crush and shred materials like rocks, concrete waste and biomass.

Hart says the company has been playing its part to decarbonise the industry by providing hybrid diesel electric mobile material processing machinery for many years.

“We recognise the future is electric and we are transitioning our product range in line with rapidly growing customer demand.” 

Fulton Hogan department manager Wayne Richardson says the firm aims to recycle all milled (broken up) asphalt, blending it with virgin asphalt at mixes of between 10-40%.

Fulton Hogan converted its Mt Wellington asphalt recycling plant’s crusher from diesel to electric earlier this year and purchasing the fully electric Keestrack R3e mobile crusher was the next logical step, he says.

“We learned a lot from converting the current mobile plant to electric. Now to have a brand-new mobile crusher from a world leader in sustainable crushing equipment is the icing on the cake.”

Richardson says as well as removing the need for diesel power, the benefits of the electric-powered machine include reduced noise, greater dependability and greater torque.

“There’s almost no drawback, and even the initial price premium over an equivalent diesel-powered machine will quickly be addressed by lower energy costs, let alone all the environmental benefits.”

Meanwhile, Hart says aggregates are often a forgotten commodity. 

“People take for granted just how critical raw materials like aggregates are to modern life. New Zealand has one of the highest per capita usage of aggregate in the world. It forms the roads we drive on, the houses we live in, the buildings we work in and even the minerals we use in our food, healthcare and technology.”

He says the equipment Equip2 supplies is critical for the construction and maintenance of the country’s roading network.