Hybrid technology lowers the fuel consumption and emissions of forest machines while increasing their efficiency.
Finnish forest machine manufacturer Logset Oy has organised a demo tour with their Logset 12H GTE Hybrid harvester. The demo tour started in Kouvola, Finland on May 18th 2018 with a demo of three forest machines. The demo is unique as it marks the hybrid harvester’s first public demo in Finland. Logset launched the Logset 12H GTE Hybrid, the world’s first hybrid harvester, in 2016.
In the Logset 12H GTE, the hybrid technology is integrated in the machine’s diesel engine. The hybrid technology increases the machine’s efficiency and torque, even though the size of the diesel engine is quite small relative to the size of the machine. The revs of the engine can be kept at a constant level, even though the power needed by the harvester can vary significantly during work cycles when the harvester is cutting and delimbing trees. The hybrid technology increases the efficiency of the machine by 27 %, while fuel consumption and emissions per harvested cubic meter are significantly decreased.
Logset indicated that hybrid forest machines represent the up-and-coming trend in the manufacturing of forest machines. They indicate that if one third of the wood harvested in the world were produced with hybrid harvesters, there would be a saving of approximately 129 591 000 litres of fuel 342 852 000 kg less CO2 emissions would be produced. After the demo in Finland, the Logset 12H GTE Hybrid will continue the demo tour in Germany and France. Source