SECTOR REPORT Ӏ BATTERY POWER


of course, supply one; but with a repurposed one they are getting a substantial saving on cost of the battery, as well as on all the diesel fuel that they no longer use. “Transitioning from diesel is not


simple. There are up-front costs – not only the cost of the battery itself but the cost of the technology of charging it.” That means there is risk


involved: a construction company investing in the new tech does not want to find itself with a battery that it has paid for but which does not work as planned. Hence the Zenobë business model and the new division it has started specifically for the construction industry. “We are calling it ‘Portable Power’ which describes exactly what we are offering.” It is ‘whole-site’ power as well;


you do not have to use the power only for your cranes. “You can charge up excavators or diggers overnight when the crane is not working; or you can charge electric cars and trucks. We call it an ‘electric Swiss Army knife’ – there


are so many things that it can do. And there is yet a third bite at


the money-saving cherry: “Since it stores energy, you can buy your electrical energy from the grid provider at low-tariff times, at night or at weekends; and you can sell any surplus you may have back to the grid, but at peak times when they will pay you more for it. And we sort out the paperwork and technics and logistics of all that, so you do not have to.”


FUTURE FORECAST As we have said, this is a new sector and a fast-moving one. Are we still in a transition stage for the technology or are there new developments likely to arrive soon? “I think lithium ion will be the technology for the near future,” says Long. “That is because what we're doing is effectively piggybacking off the EV industry. So much technical investment in R&D has gone into lithium batteries for road vehicles, and that means that you can get competitively priced high-performing technology


for these kinds of applications. “There is always talk about solid-state batteries and sodium ion batteries with various benefits and downfalls compared to lithium ion, and I think these will be ones to keep an eye on, but for the near future lithium ion batteries will be the dominant technology in this in this space.” And very soon, he thinks, every crane company will be in that space. “I expect that within three years every tower crane company will be using batteries. If there is a grid supply available that will always be the first choice, but what we're finding is that because you can save so much diesel, a battery is already commercially more attractive than solely using a generator.


“It is not just a greenwashing


way of saving carbon. You are making financial savings by swapping from a large generator to a battery to power a crane. That is the case already, and has been for a couple of years. We are saving customers more than a thousand pounds a week in some scenarios on fuel costs, and that is just on a single crane.” It is clear from the above


Zenobe’s batteries are recycled from electric buses


examples, battery technology is no longer a distant promise – it’s present day reality, transforming crane operations around the world. The shift from diesel to electric is being driven not just by environmental mandates but by clear operational advantages. Crucially, this isn’t a one-size-


fits-all revolution. Hybrid systems, flywheel technology, repurposed EV batteries all point to a future where electrification is not only possible but increasingly practical and profitable.


With both technological and


commercial momentum behind it, battery power is no longer a niche innovation in lifting – it’s rapidly becoming the norm.


CRANES TODAY 33


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