With an impressive looking wider hood and all new imposing styling, the new Bell B30E ADT was certainly turning heads on the company’s stand at Intermat last week. But Bell fans will have to wait a while to get their hands on the latest machine as it doesn’t go into production until 2013. 
Speaking about their latest ADT reincarnation, which has been in development for the past 5 years, Bell Equipment’s Chief Executive Gary Bell said “We believe that our D-series has successfully met the challenges of the world’s job sites and has many strengths and features across the range that our customers would like to see carried forward in our product advancement. Therefore we have adopted an evolutionary approach to the E-series, to build on the legacy of the D-series generation and our decades of experience in design and manufacture, rather than a revolutionary clean-sheet design. We’ve stuck to our design principles of delivering weight optimised, high production trucks with superior tractive effort but looked at ways of doing things smarter to provide customers with an even greater competitive advantage in their businesses.” 
Bell equipment has built up a reputation over the years for pioneering industry firsts, and many new innovations have made their way into this latest generation of ADT, these innovations include standard on board weighing, keyless ignition, HillAssist, skip tip prevention, auto park application (APA) and standard turbo spin protection.
The E series model is said to offer a greatly enhanced ride quality, thanks to the improvements made to the new trucks suspension system. Likewise the cab has improved ergonomics with a full colour monitor display, reduced noise levels and better interfacing with the trucks management systems. 
Joining the new E Series machine on the stand was a current top of the range model, Bell B50D which was carrying Vinci Construction Group signage. 
According to Bell’s Head of Engineering Peter Goosen, Bell has been developing the E-series for the past five years and is currently in the final stages of durability testing, having enlisted reputable independent national and international test facilities for additional verification.
Development has followed a well-structured process that has included customer interaction, concept vehicles and prototypes to ensure a strong, reliable product. Extensive testing formed part of the process and engineers used structural analysis and dynamic analysis along with a rigorous testing programme on some of the harshest mine sites in the world to ensure that the E-series is worthy of taking the Bell marque forward.
The Digger Blog intends to take a closer look at this new model at Hillhead in June.
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