Doosan Bobcat launched its new, all-electric Bobcat T7X compact track loader at CES this week, calling it the first fully electric machine of this kind to reach the market. Even better news for Bobcat fans: they’ve already sold a whole bunch of ’em.
But wait, there are already electric loaders on the market, aren’t there? What makes this Bobcat a “world’s first”? Read on.
What makes the new electric Bobcat T7X an all-electric trackloader where other electric track loaders are just “electric” is the fact that the Bobcat is the first machine of its kind to fully eliminate all the hydraulic systems usually associated with the movement of arms and bucket.
It might be a little hard to picture, but in a conventional tractor, the hydraulic fluid — a real nasty, super viscous (thick) oil — is pumped into (or out of) a cylinder, which pushes on a piston that raises (or lowers) the bucket. In the new T7X, that traditional hydraulic system has been completely replaced with an electrical drive system consisting of electric cylinders and electric drive motors. That means the Bobcat doesn’t just use electricity to move around and drive its tracks. It’s really, truly, all-electric.
