Hybrid saves up to 25% on fuel costs

Electrification and digitalization proving to be a win-win combination for RM customers

Sharply rising fuel prices, legal requirements for emissions, expanding your business, and environmental protection – there are many reasons for switching to hybrid machines. As a pioneer in electrification, RM Group have been engineering crushers with electric drives for 30 years. This expertise is integrated into RM hybrid crushers and screens. Two of these crushers and an RM MSC8500e mobile hybrid screen will be on display at Hillhead 2022.

Saving a quarter of fuel costs sounds extremely interesting, and not just in times of rocketing fuel prices. This is how it works: On RM hybrid crushers, an electric motor drives the crusher rotor. The electric drive compensates for peaks in power demand during operation, allowing the diesel engine to run at a constant speed without fluctuations. The result is a much lower fuel consumption – up to 25% lower, as proven by field data from RM crushers recorded by the new RM XSMART fleet-management and condition monitoring tool.

Even if the RM hybrid machine is running on diesel 100% of the time, it saves up to 60% in annual operating costs compared with a hydraulic machine, because in addition to lower fuel consumption, costs for hydraulic oil and servicing are also reduced.

‘Low running costs have a massive impact on the total cost of ownership of the machine. That’s why, despite the higher initial cost of hybrid systems, they often pay for themselves in just a few years,’ agreed Paul Donnelly, managing director of Red Knight 6, and Ian Burton, sales director of Taylor & Braithwaite.

Both of the RM Group’s UK sales partners will be demonstrating and explaining the RM 100GO! hybrid to visitors at this year’s Hillhead show. If a hybrid crusher is combined with a hybrid screen, it is even possible to achieve fuel savings of up to 30%. A combination will be on display on RM Group’s stand: an RM 120X crusher and an RM MSC8500e hybrid screen. The savings calculator on the RM website provides a detailed comparison of your potential savings.

With a hybrid crusher or hybrid screen, it is also possible to operate purely electrically and emission-free. This opens up completely new application possibilities for tunnel construction sites, inside buildings, and in city centres. RM crushers easily comply with the strictest legal requirements in terms of exhaust, dust, and noise emissions.

For example, an RM customer in Latvia recently purchased an RM 100GO! hybrid – the same as the one on display at Hillhead – to crush dolomite electrically and to be able to meet the high legal requirements for road construction. Thanks to the intelligent networking of the RM NEXT Generation machines, a crusher such as the RM 120X hybrid can also power the RM MSC8500e, or both can be plugged into the mains power supply.

Whether it is fuel consumption, maintenance intervals, throughput, operating hours, or pinpointing the location of RM equipment, RM XSMART is the digital assistant that keeps all this information available at any time via smartphone, tablet or computer. This RM Group fleet-management and condition monitoring tool uses real-time machine data to simplify the everyday work of machine operators, workshop managers, rental fleet managers, deployment co-ordinators, and owners.

‘We don’t want our customers to waste time doing paperwork for their machines. We want our customers to make the highest profit, and we want to provide them with the best service. That’s also why we are focusing on digitalization,’ said RM chief executive officer Gerald Hanisch.

‘With just a few clicks, the data can be broken down to a defined time period. Because the operating hours are recorded automatically, it is no longer necessary to manually log hours at regular intervals for invoicing or as proof for the authorities.’