So far, the EC750E and six A40G (39-tonne capacity) articulated haulers have gone to work on a five-year overburden removal project to expose seams of gypsum in an opencast mine near Newark in Nottinghamshire. Up to 2.8 million cubic metres of material is expected to be excavated there each year.
A further five, slightly larger Volvo A45Gs (41-tonne) are on order to supplement the fleet on site, which currently totals 28 items of mobile plant.
“We’ve had many years of experience operating Volvo products in applications ranging from bulk muck shifting to coal extraction particularly in the northeast of England and Scotland,” said Hall Construction managing director Stephen Hall. “They have a sound pedigree in terms of reliability and performance, with good residuals.”
The latest G-series haulers from Volvo meet the requirements of Stage IV final emissions legislation being powered by electronically controlled, six-cylinder turbo charged Volvo V-ACT diesel engines. These feature high torque at low engine speeds, resulting in good fuel efficiency, high performance, quicker engine response and less wear, in other words, long service life. Purpose built by Volvo, the engine is designed to exactly match the Volvo drive train, ensuring the best use of power and torque, even in tough working conditions.
Delivering exceptional fuel efficiency, it is matched to a torque converter with built-in lock-up function and fitted with a fully automatic fast adaptive transmission. The rest of the Volvo designed and built powertrain has been reinforced to cope with the higher torque output of the engine.
The A40G and A45G haulers have a maximum speed of 33 mph. To maximise the volume capability of the trucks due to the friable nature of the overburden material on the Newark site, Hall Construction has added 300mm side extensions to the truck bodies, increasing the cubic metre capacity to handle five passes from a 5.7m³ bucket. The haulers are also fitted with CareTrack as standard, which is Volvo’s telematics system that enables remote monitoring of machine functions.
Equipped in mass excavation configuration, the EC750E delivered to Hall Construction has a 5.7m³ bucket fitted to the end of a 6.6-metre boom and a 2.9-metre dipper arm. Forward reach is 11.46 metres and maximum digging depth is 7.21 metres. The machine’s practical load over height is seven metres and bucket breakout force is 383kN in power max mode.
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