Niftylift was the first Elevated Work Platform (EWP) manufacturer to introduce the hybrid engine concept. Managing Director John King discusses the continued commitment to a carbon neutral future.
Niftylift’s design and engineering teams developed the first hybrid engine for an Elevated Work Platform (EWP) in 2017. The team has continued to develop the efficiencies of the system and today, these feature in the HR 21 Hybrid MK2.
In designing the first hybrid system, Niftylift’s teams learned a lot of lessons, and in the ensuing years set about redesigning the system to be even more efficient. The regen system now features a Stage V engine with electric boost which reduces fuel consumption by up to 50 per cent.
“Today, this is really important, because job sites are now asking, ‘what is your carbon footprint?’,” said John King, Niftylift Managing Director. “The Stage V diesel engine is under 19 kilowatts which doesn’t require particulate filters or diesel additives such as AdBlue, and it’s a lot quieter.”
There are three stages of operating the machine. When the HR 21 Hybrid is running on diesel, whether that’s driving the machine or operating the boom, and not all power is being used, the system will automatically turn the electric motor on and store the extra energy in the batteries.
There is boost mode, which is used when operators are faced with really steep or boggy ground and need extra drive. The system will bring the electric motor in to back up the diesel engine, providing a combined power of about 26 kilowatts. The machine can operate in electric mode which will provide 22 kilowatts of power.
The efficiency of the hybrid system is demonstrated with the Niftylift Standard Duty Cycle (SDC), explained John.
“With the SDC we start with fully charged batteries and the safe working load (SWL) and cage, which is 250 kilograms with the HR 21. We drive the machine 30 metres forward, 30 metres backwards, we take the boom all the way up, slew it through 90 degrees, bring it back down.
“That’s one cycle,” said John.
All cycles start with the machine in a fully charged state with the battery charger showing an indication that the charge is complete. The full safe working load of the machine must be present in the cage throughout the test, and all machine functions are operated at the maximum possible speed.
The cycle is repeated until the point at which the machine can no longer operate, or the battery display is showing zero per cent.
“The industry standard for a full day’s work is a minimum of 16 repetitions of our standard duty cycle or an SDC rating of 16. Most new electric-only Niftylifts have an SDC rating of 32, which means they could comfortably perform two full working days on one charge,” said John.
“The performance of the HR-21 is 26 cycles, at which point the batteries are flat. We then start the diesel engine and run the machine on diesel, but you are also ‘regening’ at the same time. With this combination you are looking at around 67 cycles.
“We then run it back on electric again, receiving another 24 cycles. We then run the diesel engine again as a hybrid and regen for another 51 cycles. Then back on electric the machine manages 18 cycles. So, with 33 litres of diesel and fully charged batteries, we received 188 cycles from the machine. In terms of CO2, the machine runs at 458 grams of CO2 per cycle running on diesel. All the information is there, and we can tell our customers exactly what’s happening with the machine and how they can best benefit from its efficiencies.”
Niftylift uses Absorbent Glass Matte (AGM) batteries which are maintenance free.
“We have found them to be really good batteries. Everything on the electric machine is very similar to the other models in the range, including the console layouts. Our booms now have the same console so once you’ve operated one Nifty, you can get straight onto the next one. It’s obvious how it all works,” said John.
“The new electric machines have an SDC rating of 66 cycles which is the equivalent of four days’ work, probably more if you are realistic. There’s no diesel consumption and the battery is fully recharged in 10 hours. All our booms now feature telematics which enable a customer to monitor the machine from their computer or tablet, they can fault find, understand when it was last charged, what the diesel consumption is, how much fuel is on board and how many times the boom has been used… all the information is there,” he said.
The Niftylift range also features an override system enabled by the operator.
“If there is an emergency the operator can override the safety system which leaves the function open to abuse,” said John.
“With the Niftylift range, there is an override button in the cage. If this is pushed a small electric motor will bring the boom down very slowly and a light will come on in the console and stay on. When that machine returns to the yard and management is happy that there was a problem and they weren’t abusing the machine, they can ring us and we will give them a one-time code to clear the warning light.”