Electric drive technology from Linde Material Handling at MobiliTec 2013
Together with Val’Air S.A.S, a company specializing in sweeping technology headquartered near Belfort/France, at MobiliTec 2013 Linde Material Handling will be presenting a compact hybrid sweeper for cleaning city centres and company premises. Based on the chassis of a municipal vehicle produced by the French company Brandt Motors, the sweeper is powered by a Linde eco-Kit M, consisting of an asynchronous motor with a maximum output of 32 kilowatts, a power module and a control unit including software – all of these components come from the mass production range of Europe’s leading manufacturer of electric counterbalance trucks.

The vehicle reaches a maximum speed of 30 km/h, which is reduced down to 10 km/h during sweeping operation. On board is also a small internal combustion engine which drives the brushes and the conveyor belt that transports the dirt into the collection container. This drive unit will be replaced by another eco-Kit M as a next development step. “Issues such as noise, particulate matter and exhaust emissions in particular make the use of electric-drive vehicles in city centres imperatives,” Maik Manthey, Vice President New Business & Products at Linde Material Handling, says with conviction. He is also in charge of the Electronic Systems & Drives (ES&D), via which the company offers its expertise in the development of electric drive systems, acquired over more than 40 years, for a wide range of new application fields.

“eco-Kits from ES&D are ideally suited for the straightforward electrification of special vehicles for city centres, including for example small trucks, delivery vans, compact machines for sweeping the pavement, clearing snow and disposing of waste,” states Jacques Daval, Val’Air Managing Director. “The individual components are optimally matched to each other, they have proved their worth in industrial trucks and they are cost-effective too. Therefore it was easy for us to select this drive solution for our sweeper and we will take the next step towards full electrification together with Linde too.” Only three months passed between the supply of the components and the commissioning and acceptance of the vehicle. The systems solution worked smoothly right from the very first test and was adjusted to the specific individual vehicle features using the control software developed by Linde.

Alongside the electric Karabag 500 E city car and an electrically driven Aaglander carriage, the vehicle will be on display at the eMotion stand H11 in Hall 25 until 12 April.