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Volvo CE electric load carrier concept wins innovation award

Autonomous, battery-electric HX1 prototype lauded for offering sustainable machinery solution

Volvo CE’s HX1 prototype load carrier has won the Swedish Institute for Quality’s (SIQ) Quality Innovation of the Year Award.

The equipment giant’s autonomous, battery-electric model was declared the winner in the Potential Innovations category at the awards, said Volvo CE in a statement. The company’s vision of a futuristic machine is one element of a present-day electric site research project that is predicted to cut carbon emissions by up to 95% and lower total cost of ownership costs by a quarter, it added.

The HX1 prototype represents a new approach to a sustainable future concept based on electro-mobility and autonomous vehicles, Volvo CE said. Rather than having a few, large, versatile machines, as is the norm on construction and mining sites today, the HX1 demonstrates the emergence of smaller and more numerous specialist machines. This ‘elephants to ants’ concept is a new way of meeting customer needs, combining intelligent machines, automation and ‘electromobility’, according to Volvo CE’s statement.

“The HX1 forms part of Volvo CE’s long term ambition of achieving sustainable transportation solutions,” said Patrik Lundblad, senior vice president of Volvo CE’s Technology function. “This award is a tribute to the hard work and vision of Volvo CE’s employees, who continue to push the boundaries of technology and innovation. This is a welcome recognition that demonstrates Volvo CE’s position at the forefront of technological development.”

Mats Deleryd, President of SIQ, said: “It is impressive to see how the winning innovations takes historical processes and technologies and reinvent them to meet the needs of the future. With these quality awards we strive to give the ‘how’ of innovative processes, business models and new ways of working as much attention as the ‘what’ of product and service innovations commonly gets.”

Sweden’s Quality Innovation Awards are now in their sixth year and are part of an international series of awards that recognise organisations presenting innovative solutions created using a systematic approach to meet clearly identified customer needs.

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