Molly Pitcher Dairy in Shippensburg purchased an electric Volvo compact loader in November, and the machine has plenty of power for heavy tasks such as loading a feed mixer.
Molly Pitcher Dairy in Shippensburg purchased an electric Volvo compact loader in November, and the machine has plenty of power for heavy tasks such as loading a feed mixer. Refuse Truck
Tired of expensive fuel costs and constantly replacing tires on skidloaders, Keith Jones decided to try another option for loader work on his dairy farm.
Jones, who is a partner with his brothers in the Molly Pitcher Milk dairy farm in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, recently added a Volvo L25 electric compact wheel loader to the fleet of six skidloaders.
The farm, which milks 860 cows, has a 1.5-million-gallon anaerobic digester that recycles solid and liquid manure from the cows, along with food waste collected from local sources, and produces biogas that is used to generate electricity that powers the farm and is sold back to the local grid. The on-farm generation of electricity is what led Jones to try an electric loader.
“It pays us better to use the electricity than sell it on the grid,” Jones said. “Since we’re already producing electricity, we figured we’d give the electric loader a try.”
The loader, purchased in November, so far has passed the test.
Employees at the dairy use the loader daily to push feed in, load the TMR mixer and move manure. Jones said it handles the tasks well and the battery holds up, but there are other benefits that can’t be found with a diesel-powered machine.
“It’s great for pushing feed in because it’s so quiet the cows don’t move or jerk out of their stalls. There’s no exhaust hanging in the barn either,” he said.
For heavier jobs, the loader, which has a maximum tipping load of nearly 7,500 pounds, has held up well.
And so have the batteries.
Farm employees recently used the machine to load manure spreaders, operating it from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. When the job was finished, the batteries still had 10% power remaining. The farm has 220-power, so it takes about three hours to bring the batteries from 30% or lower to full charge.
“Even for heavier jobs, compared to a skidloader it has extra torque. When we turn compost with it, it really has power,” Jones said. “We just use it then plug it in.”
Lars Arnold, product manager for sustainable power for Volvo Construction Equipment North America, said the more power that is put into the machine, the faster it will charge.
“It’s like filling your vehicle with a gas can versus a fuel pump. So while a regular household outlet can do the job, a 240-volt, 32-amp Level 2 AC-charging setup will do it faster,” he said.
According to Arnold, other people who have tried an electric machine also say it feels stronger than a diesel version. The reason, he said, is electric machines don’t have the slight delay that diesel engines do in delivering torque.
The lack of noise is also a major part of the appeal to those who have tried the machine.
“It’s easy to talk to someone who’s standing nearby while it’s running. And the much lower vibration makes it easy for them to understand, even on a short demo, that they will feel much less fatigued at the end of a workday,” Arnold said.
One of the biggest benefits for Jones is the hour meter only runs when the throttle is pressed. Skidloaders turn the hours even when they idle, but not the electric loader.
Jones said the farm puts between 1,000 and 1,500 hours a year on each of the skidloaders. With the electric loader, however, he estimates the annual hours will be 700 to 800.
The reduction in hours will help when it comes time to trade in or sell the loader, he said.
Still, there are a few minor shortcomings with the electric loader.
Because it’s longer and larger than a skidloader, Jones said it’s difficult to maneuver in a few of the bank barns on the farm. Tight corners can be tough because the loader can’t spin like a skidloader, but on the flip side it won’t wear out tires as quickly.
“When you consider it costs less to charge it than it does to buy fuel, and you have the tire savings, the value is there even if we didn’t have an anaerobic digester to produce electricity to power it,” Jones said.
As a result, there’s a good chance that an electric machine — or several — will have a long-term role on Jones’ farm.
“We’ll give it a year and then see how it’s working out, but right now I would go with another electric loader,” he said, adding he’d like to replace half of the skidloaders with electric loaders at some point.
“If Volvo made electric skidloaders, then I’d switch it all over real quick,” Jones said.
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