A production line for a new electric compact wheel loader has been inaugurated at the CNH plant in Lecce, Italy.
The model will be marketed under the CASE and New Holland brands globally and completes the company’s range of compact electric vehicles, which already includes the two electric mini-excavators produced in Cesena.
The Lecce plant, which recently celebrated 50 years of activity, is one of CNH’s main production centres in Italy and EMEA. It occupies 600,000 square metres and houses seven product lines for 203 models and 4,896 different configurations.
In 2022, an investment of around €13 million (part of the Converto project, co-financed by the region of Puglia) enabled the installation of a new advanced painting plant and plasma cutting machine.
Ciro Casapulla, head of construction product development, said, “We have not just replaced the diesel engine with batteries. We have completely revised the design, also drawing on technologies and calculation techniques typical of the aerospace sector. Firstly, by lightening the weight, removing it where it wasn’t needed, in a reasoned and calibrated way to increase performance and preserve the machine’s autonomy.”
The weight reduction has also been achieved thanks to a special lattice boom and has led to an improvement in tipping load. Another innovation is the electro-hydraulic controls which, combined with the electric drive, is said to make it possible to ‘maximise the efficiency and the controllability’ of movements.
The new electric model has a range of 3-6 hours depending on the type of application. Recharging can be done with the domestic power socket with the standard 230V on-board charger or with the optional fast charger, which can recharge the 23 kWh lithium-ion battery from 20% to 80% in just one hour.
