Electric Vehicle

These electric mini loaders are backyard-sized construction tools

Published

2 months ago

January 28, 2023

Regular readers of my Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week Column will know that I usually browse Chinese shopping sites to find the craziest and coolest little electric vehicles in the world. That has led to finding everything out electric submarines to Mini electric jeeps. But this time I would say that today’s vehicles are less weird and more awesome, especially if you’ve been looking for your own electric construction machine for your property or construction site. These little mini electric chargers might be the perfect size for hobby farms and small ranches. And they’re pretty damn affordable too!

I’ve dealt with electric chargers before even one covered over a year ago. But mini electric chargers from China have come a long way, as you can see from the latest models.

I came across this company Aolite that makes a bunch of construction machines from small to massive. They’ve recently evolved into electrically powered construction equipment, and two of their loaders caught my eye.

Their first model, apparently being produced by multiple sources, is the Aolite 604. It is a 1,120 kg (2,470 lb) mini loader that can lift up to 400 kg (880 lb) in its front bucket. It hurtles around at 10-18 km/h (6-11 mph) depending on which gear you hold it in and is powered by dual 1800W motors for all-wheel drive. A third 3,000W motor powers the hydraulic system, which includes a third circuit (in addition to the lift and tilt circuits) to create a quick hitch system or power hydraulic accessories such as grapple buckets, excavator attachments, etc.

The lead-acid batteries are nothing special, but they help add ballast weight and give the electric charger a 6-7 hour run time. And, of course, the lack of a diesel engine has a long list of advantages. You don’t have to spend hours inhaling a toxic cloud of carcinogens, you don’t need to wear hearing protection to avoid slowly becoming deaf, the whole vehicle does not vibrate all the time, and it can even be used indoors indoor demolition and reconstruction!

For those who want something even bigger, this Aolite 606 loader is nearly twice the size and weighs 2,050 kg (4,520 lb). It has a stronger lifting capacity of up to 700 kg (1,540 lb) from a larger bucket. The two drive motors are 3,500W each, with a larger 5,000W motor powering the hydraulic system.

And look at how affordable these little chargers are. The smaller electric minicharger model costs $4,900 for a single unit, although the price drops to $4,500 if you buy ten of these.

The 606 loader is slightly more expensive, costing $8,300 for a single unit. Just like the 604 model, the price goes down as you buy more. Get eight of these bad boys and they’re a modest $7,500 apiece. For comparison, a similarly specified diesel-powered Bobcat L23 articulated loader comes at a price at around $40,000.

Both loaders come with a host of optional accessories (each costing several hundred dollars) that can be substituted for the traditional loader bucket. Unfortunately, due to the larger size of the 606, they are not compatible with each other.

They have grass forks, pallet forks, grapple buckets, snow sweepers/plows/blowers, cement mixer buckets, grain buckets, augers, hammers, 4-in-1 buckets, barrel clamps and more!

The company even has an articulated electric forklift built on a similar chassis, although I’m not sure I can find that many uses for a forklift.

Since the loaders can also be supplied with a pallet fork for a few hundred dollars, you can easily convert them into small forklifts, even if they don’t have the same lifting height as the real Aolite forklift.

Well, here’s the thing: As my regular readers will know, most of the time I just enjoy finding fun EVs on Alibaba while window shopping, but I’ve been known for actually buying the ones I really like. That’s how I ended up an electric mini truck and a 5 seater electric boatalongside other odd purchases.

And now I’m seriously considering getting an electric mini charger. For context, my parents own a small 10-acre ranch where my mini truck spends its days as a work truck (which is good, since it’s technically non-road legal). An electric loader working overtime as a small tractor would be useful on the property and these could fill the bill.

So I did some research on what goes into buying one, which set me on a path to realizing I’m probably going to get over my head – but that’s okay, I’ll be buying a snorkel too.

The company’s sales rep, “Alison”, helped me and she is a dream. I didn’t even tell her that I’m famous online for buying questionable stuff on Alibaba or that I’m writing this column, but she helped me figure out all the options for models, accessories, packaging, and shipping to the US.

You see, you can’t just buy one of these as most freight companies won’t allow you for LCL (less than container load) shipping, where the freight is simply dumped into a shared container and you only pay for the space you take up . That’s how I shipped my boat from China, but it only weighed 400 pounds.

So basically I would have to import a whole container of these mini electric chargers if I wanted one. A full 40ft container would hold 10 of the smaller loaders or 8 of the larger loaders. That’s a bit much for me, but turns out you can get a half-size 20ft container that will fit four of either model.

The only problem is I don’t need four. I need a. Or maybe two if I want one big and one small. I don’t know what I would do with four mini electric chargers. Maybe buy a 6 foot beach ball and play 2v2 loader soccer with them?

That’s a bridge I’m still trying to figure out how to cross. If anyone lives within truck reach in South Florida and wants to buy a Mini Loader, talk to me.

I’m not sure how far down that rabbit hole I plan to go, but the more I look at these things and the more I watch videos like the one below, the more I’m wondering how I’ve made it this far in life without my own mini electric charger in the backyard. There’s a good chance you’ll see me with a follow-up article in another month or so: Oops, I bought a container load of Chinese construction equipment.

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Related Topics:backyardsized Construction Electric loaders mini tools

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Electric Vehicle

Aptera to integrate openpilot driver assistance into its solar EVs

Published

47 mins ago

March 25, 2023

Ella Valadez

Aptera engines is back this week with its second exciting news update, announcing that it has selected an open source driver assistance system called “openpilot” as its official system to be integrated into its production model solar EVs.

Aptera Motors continues Make big strides in 2023 on its journey to reaching the holy grail of scaled EV production, hopefully sometime next year. Those of the startup recently expanded accelerator program should help him raise some big funds to buy the necessary equipment for SEV production reimbursed by a recent scholarship in California for $21 million.

We got our first impression Aptera’s Launch Edition last January, and the hype train for the first commercialized solar EV chugs on. If and when these Launch Editions roll off Aptera’s assembly line, we now know that drivers will be able to take advantage of features like adaptive cruise control and lane centering thanks to the Openpilot driver assistance system.

Aptera chooses best-in-class driver assistance system

Accordingly the news Aptera Motors engineers will today create and maintain the necessary code specific to their solar EV to interface with open-source Driver assistance system openpilot originally developed by comma.ai, although the companies currently have no affiliation.

Previously voted the #1 Driver Assistance System consumer reportsopenpilot is the only consumer system available (Except for Tesla) that can stop at stop signs and red lights while using only 1/10 the energy. As a result, Aptera says future owners should see virtually no loss of efficiency when using the driver-assistance system. Chris McCammon, a veteran member of the openpilot community, is leading the Aptera integration and shared his thoughts on how the open source system has evolved since 2017:

Since then, the software has matured enormously and now supports over 200 vehicle models with an easy-to-install kit. Although Openpilot has far outperformed almost every driver assistance system on the market today, major automakers have not jumped on it. They continue to throw hundreds of millions of dollars into developing their own low-end systems, while Openpilot is open-source software that anyone can implement for free.

Free.

That’s another smart business move from Aptera Motors as it aims to finally minimize spending…hopefully by bringing its long-promised SEVs to the masses. Aptera co-founder and co-CEO Steve Fambro is already a fan:

I’ve been using openpilot in my existing vehicle for over 6 months and I’m thrilled. It has completely changed the way I drive, and I can’t think of a more efficient way for Aptera drivers to be part of the autonomous future.

Aptera says it is currently deciphering exactly how Openpilot driver assistance can best be integrated into its vehicles and that several validation steps will be required before the solar EV goes into production. The current plan is to deliver openpilot-enabled SEVs to customers, who will then receive a delivery of the compatible hardware, which can then be installed in less than 30 minutes.

You can learn more about openpilot and how it will be integrated into McCammon’s future Aptera vehicles in the video the startup posted this afternoon.

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Electric Vehicle

United Airlines and Archer to launch first commercial electric air taxi route in Chicago

Published

49 mins ago

March 25, 2023

Ella Valadez

Archer Aviation and United Airlines plan to do so begin the premier air taxi route in Chicago between O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and Vertiport Chicago. Vertiport Chicago, North America’s largest vertical takeoff and landing facility for aircraft, is located in the Illinois Medical District near the Chicago Loop.

This location was choCentre County Reportn as the take-off and landing site for this route from the airport to the city center for its convenience, accessibility and Centre County Reportrvice. From there, pasCentre County Reportngers can travel to and from ORD on Archer’s Midnight Airplane in approximately 10 minutes. A similar trip by car can take more than an hour or more during rush hour.

United and Archer’s goal for its UAM network is to provide residents and visitors in the Chicago metro area with a safe, sustainable, low-noiCentre County Report, and affordable alternative to ground transportation by 2025. The early take-off routes will be centered on airport inner-city transportation Centre County Reportrvices, known as “trunk routes.” Once the main routes are established, the next step will be to build “branch routes” to connect to surrounding communities.

ComEd, the Midwest’s largest utility, will work with United and Archer to build the power infrastructure needed to operate eVTOL aircraft in and around the Chicago metro area.

Electric Vehicle

Charged EVs | Speed through regulatory challenges of connecting EVs and EVSE to the grid (Webinar)

Published

2 hours ago

March 25, 2023

Ella Valadez

The addition of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) to the EV market adds an additional layer of complexity to the already diverse and ever-evolving global compliance requirements/standards for Vehicle-Grid Integration (VGI). For example, in addition to complying with EV charging standards, OEMs now need to ensure compliance with connection requirements and compatibility with local grids.

The free webinar Presented by Keysight at our spring virtual conference (April 17-20, 2023), the design and testing challenges involved and ways to solve them will be explored.

Reserve your spot – it’s free!

Additional sessions at our Spring Virtual Conference include:

Fulfillment of new requirements for high-voltage charging couplers for electric vehicles

EV charging infrastructure continues to experience rapid growth, with a significant portion being faster and more powerful DC chargers. With faster charging comes the requirement for higher duty cycles for all components within the charger. Designers and manufacturers evaluate and improve the robustness of all components, including controllers, electronic assemblies, cables and couplings. The coupler connector in particular will benefit from materials that can withstand high wear cycles in exposed environments over the operational life of the charger.

The webinarpresented by Umicore Galvanotechnik GmbH, will introduce and describe a new low-friction, highly wear-resistant silver composite material for coupling connectors.

Reserve your spot – it’s free!

The full session schedule for the Spring Virtual Conference on EV Engineering can be found here.

Conference content will be streamed live April 17-20, 2023 and will cover the EV technology supply chain and ecosystem, including design and manufacturing of motor and power electronics, cell development, battery systems, testing, powertrains, thermal management, circuit protection, wires and cables , EMI/EMC and more.