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Going Electric? Go Digital, Too.
The Right Data Can Help You Minimize Cost, Downtime & Disruption
By Tom Carlill, Senior Manager NPI | Posted: October 2024
I’m paraphrasing here, but I recently heard the CEO of a major car company say something along the lines of, “With EVs it’s not about the propulsion, it’s about building a digital product. The customer will judge us based on the digital experience.”
He was clearly exaggerating, but there’s an element of truth in his comment: Data and digital solutions are becoming just as important to the efficient, effective operation of many products as the raw materials. That’s not just the case with passenger vehicles. It’s true with heavy equipment as well — even more so as we introduce electric machines.
Think about what’s required to keep your diesel-powered machine running. For the most part, if you take care of regular preventive maintenance and keep it fueled up, you’re good to go. Things aren’t so simple with electric equipment. Once you introduce batteries and chargers into the mix, there are a host of other factors to consider: machine runtime, charging schedules, charging locations and battery life, just to name a few.
How do you manage all these new elements, keep your costs down and still keep your productivity high? That’s where smart use of data and digital solutions can make a big difference. (And it’s why we’re equipping all Cat® electric machines with fully enabled remote monitoring.) Here are four examples:
1. Maximize Efficiency By Charging At The Right Time And Place
When it comes to charging electric equipment on site, here’s what you don't want:
- Operators moving around your site looking for an available charger: That’s a waste of time and battery life.
- Machines lined up waiting to plug in because you don’t have enough chargers: That’s inefficient.
- Chargers sitting unused because you purchased too many: That’s expensive.
- “Range anxiety” causing operators to charge too frequently: That’s a drain on productivity.
- Multiple machines charging during peak demand times: That’s when energy prices are at their highest.
How do you avoid these problems? If you drive an electric car, you probably have an app on your phone that shows you nearby charging stations and tells you which chargers are free, which are in use and when the best times to charge are. We’re using data and analytics to apply that same logic to the jobsite.
By knowing the number of electric machines you operate, the number and location of chargers on site and the remaining charge on each battery, we can help operators and fleet managers manage site charging schedules.
2. Avoid Costly Charging Errors And Oversights
Because electric equipment is new to the jobsite, there’s going to be a learning curve for everyone. But learning from mistakes can be costly.
Imagine one of your operators plugs in a machine to charge, then heads off for lunch — but doesn’t plug it in all the way. (Trust me, it happens.) Thirty minutes later, he returns to a machine drained of energy, and another operator is waiting to hook up to the same charger. Now you’ve got two machines unable to go to work.
Thanks to remote-monitoring technology, we can make sure operator #1 gets an immediate notification on his phone if he plugs in improperly. That way, he can fix the problem, enjoy his lunch and return to a fully charged machine — and operator #2 can plug in on schedule.
3. Minimize Downtime When Batteries Need Replacement
If the starter battery in your diesel-powered machine dies, you can usually pick up a replacement that same day. Not so with electric equipment batteries. Lead times are long across industries — often extending to six or 12 months. You can’t have a machine sitting idle for up to a year waiting on a new battery.
That’s why we’re using technology to monitor remaining useful life on Cat electric equipment batteries. We can alert your dealer in plenty of time to order the right battery and have it ready to install in your equipment. And your dealer will be able to handle proper recycling and disposal of the used battery, so you don’t have to worry about that, either.
Having a documented record of battery history and remaining life will be important to ensure compliance with future regulations. And, from a financial perspective, the battery represents a significant portion of overall equipment value, particularly when it comes to smaller electric machines.
4. Help Prevent Battery And Machine Theft
Equipment theft has long been a problem, and it may only get worse as the percentage of electric machines on jobsites rises. That’s because batteries — and the raw materials found inside them — are valuable and in demand. Smaller machines, which are among the first to be battery-powered, also are easier to steal.
That's why we monitor location and give you the ability to set geofences. This lets you track a machine when it leaves preset boundaries and provides an early warning of misuse through our digital interfaces.
Information Versus Data
By employing digital solutions, our goal is to make your transition to electric equipment a smoother one — whether you operate one battery-powered machine or an entire fleet. That’s why we’re focused on providing useful information and advice, not just a live data stream. We won’t just tell you that your current battery voltage is X; we’ll tell you that at this battery percentage, you have Y amount of time left to work before you need to plug in at charger Z.
Ultimately, the goal is to help you minimize cost, disruption and downtime, so you can work as productively with your electric equipment as you do with your diesel-powered machines. Do you have questions about the digital solutions available for Cat electric machines? Please contact our team of experts. We’re happy to share more examples of ways they can benefit your entire operation.
Tom Carlill
Senior Manager NPI
Tom is currently responsible for developing the digital ecosystem to support our electrification journey within our Electrification and Energy Solutions division. Tom has over twenty years' experience at Caterpillar, where he has worked in product design and development and product management. Tom has been involved in Caterpillar's electrification efforts for the last 5 years with a focus on how we build customer solutions to help them manage the energy transition.
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