Komatsu Forest to develop electric machines

Komatsu Forest said it is building a new development department focused on the electrification of forest machines. (Illustration: Komatsu)

Komatsu Forest said it will invest in the future with a new development department that will focus on the on electrification of forest machines. With the initiative, the company said it wants to take the lead in the forestry equipment industry and help reduce net carbon dioxide emissions from its machines.

“We have a production facility that is close to carbon neutral, and we are working with the same goal-awareness to reduce CO2- emissions from the use of our forest machines. The vision is to reach a “net zero emission worksite”, said Erik Nilsson, CTO at Komatsu Forest in Umeå, Sweden.

“We see an increasing interest in our customers and partners in reducing the environmental impact of forest machines. We aim to reduce CO2 emissions from our products by 50% by 2030 and expect to have something on the market before then,” said Peter Hasselryd, VP Marketing & Sales at Komatsu Forest.

Developing electrification for the forest is a big technology step for Komatsu Forest, one that it said poses major challenges. Since the machines work off-grid, there are many aspects to consider when developing new machine solutions. For the machines to be able to use different types of energy media, energy distribution solutions are needed for the workplace in the forest.

“We are happy to lead the way, but cooperation and partnership are an important part of the transition in the forest,” said Nilsson.

To succeed, the development of new technologies and new system solutions that can offer our customers the ability to use renewable energy sources is required.

The company said the new development department will be expanded gradually, and it is looking for people with several different types of competencies.

“We are looking for electric vehicle developers, hardware and software developers, computational engineers, application engineers in energy, hydraulics and mechanics, but we also see that we need new competencies in areas such as vehicle certification and testing, all with a genuine interest in developing products and solutions for a sustainable future,” said Nilsson.