During the Intermat 2018 Innovation Awards, Volvo was one of the nine companies awarded the Equipment and Machines Prize for the category: earthwork. The prize has been won thanks to the innovative and vanguard rubber tracked mini-excavator VOLVO EX 02. The new tracked Swedish machine is the result of a research project called ELEXC, started in 2012 and concluded in 2015.

The new mini-excavator branded Volvo is for the moment just a prototype, but it reflects the future expectations about the environmental protection, given that the new VOLVO EX02 is 100% electrical. This project has been financially supported by different institutions and the French administration, who designated 7 Billion Euros for its realization. 

From a technical point of view, the peculiarities of Volvo EX 02 are: the two lithium-ion batteries, that replace the classical combustion engine and allows the complete recharge of an entire working-day, and the electric linear actuators, that stand for the hydraulic system.

This innovation brought numerous advantages:

-       Zero emissions

-       Increase of efficiency

-       Decrease of the sound level

-       Decrease of maintenance costs

-       Optimization of the transmission’s chain

-       Decrease of cooling demand