Doosan Bobcat partners with Sunbelt Rentals

Doosan Bobcat, West Fargo, N.D., and Sunbelt Rentals, Fort Mill, S.C., are coming together with Sunbelt committed to a significant investment in a large fleet of new Bobcat T7X all-electric compact track loaders and electric compact excavators in North America. The machines will be co-branded and made available in 2022 and beyond, the companies said.

Details were provided during CES® 2022 in Las Vegas last week. At the technology event, Doosan Bobcat unveiled the all-electric T7X compact track loader.

“Doosan Bobcat is at the forefront of innovation, and we are proud to debut the all-electric technology of the T7X to help customers maximize both sustainability and productivity,” said Scott Park, president and CEO, Doosan Bobcat. “Our focus remains on providing solutions and products that empower people to accomplish more and build a better world.”

“By making an investment in this first-of-its-kind, all-electric technology, we support our environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives of empowering our customers and communities with the availability of alternative rental solutions that reduce emissions and noise,” said Brendan Horgan, CEO, Sunbelt Rentals. “Sunbelt Rentals is leading the implementation of electrified on-road and off-road products to unlock the ESG structural benefits of rental.”

The fully-electric track loader operates with zero emissions, reduced sound levels, limited vibrations and lower daily operating costs. The machine has electric actuators and motors, so it uses only one quart of eco-friendly coolant compared to 57 gal. of fluid in its diesel/hydraulic equivalent model.

The machine features a 62kW lithium-ion battery from technology partner Green Machine Equipment, Buffalo, N.Y. While the applications vary, each charge can support common daily work operations and the use of intelligent work modes for up to four hours of continuous operation time and a full day of operation during intermittent use. The intelligence of the power management system is programmed to sense when loads are increasing, automatically backing off power when not needed to preserve the total energy use and extend the machine’s runtime.

Doosan Bobcat collaborated with Moog, Elma, N.Y., a worldwide developer of motion control components and systems for industries ranging from aerospace and defense to construction, to speed up the pace of research and development for electronic control capabilities of the T7X.

“Like Doosan Bobcat, we believe that electrification, automation and connectivity go hand-in-hand,” said John Scannell, chairman and CEO, Moog. “We are proud to collaborate with Doosan Bobcat and bring our comprehensive set of electrification capabilities, including hardware and intelligent software, to the world’s first all-electric loader.”

Bobcat also introduced all-electric attachments to empower the machine for specific tasks. The first to be developed include an electrically-powered auger to dig holes, an angle broom to sweep clean and a grapple to grab and hold materials.