2024 bauma CHINA: A New Era for Global Construction Machinery (Part 1)

Those who love mountains and seas will eventually meet again.

Those who love the Chinese construction machinery industry will eventually gather at the bauma CHINA exhibition.

bauma CHINA 2024 is unprecedented

From November 26 to 29, 2024, bauma CHINA 2024 will return in glory in Shanghai. The theme of the exhibition is "Chasing the Light and Encountering All Things Shining". Through full-space layout, full-chain collaboration, and full-factor drive, the exhibition covers the entire ecosystem of the industrial chain, and focuses on displaying the new industries, new models and new driving forces spawned by cutting-edge technologies in the construction machinery industry,presenting a weather vane for technological innovation and new products of the world's construction machinery industry.

The total exhibition area exceeded 330,000 square meters, bringing together 3,542 exhibitors from 32 countries and regions, a 24% increase over the previous session, including 700 international brands; it attracted 281,488 professional visitors from 188 countries and regions to negotiate purchases, with overseas visitors accounting for more than 20%.The exhibition area is 8.25 times that of 2002, the number of exhibitors is 7.87 times, the number of visitors is 5.63 times, and the number of overseas visitors is more than 28 times.

bauma CHINA 2024 focuses on new development trends in the global construction machinery industry, such as digital transformation, smart construction, low-carbon green, and electrification, leading the digital transformation and green and sustainable development of the construction machinery industry.Many exhibitors showcased their innovative achievements in new energy, smart construction and other areas. For example, new energy equipment products were launched one after another, covering a variety of energy supply modes from hybrid, electric to hydrogen energy; in terms of smart construction,innovative software, predictive analysis and data-driven solutions were used to promote the digital transformation of building and construction project management.

The theme of this exhibition is “Chasing the Light and Encountering Everything Shines”. “Chasing the Light and Encountering” expresses the industry’s pursuit and exploration of new technologies and new trends, while “Everything Shines” implies the rich and diverse innovative achievements and development opportunities presented in the exhibition, which has brought vigorous vitality to the construction machinery industry.

"Chasing the Light and Encountering" - See the Evolution of Innovative Products and Technology Trends through bauma CHINAThe size of a “powerful weapon of a great nation”: from large to super largebauma CHINA has always been a place where

 China's "heavy equipment" of construction machinery are concentrated. 

As early as 2012, Sany exhibited itslargest machine at the time - the 3,600-ton crawler crane SCC86000A. In 2014, Liugong launched its largest wheel loader CLG8128H at bauma CHINA. In 2018, Liebherr exhibited its new R9100B mining excavator for the first time.

At bauma CHINA 2024, the large-scale development of construction machinery was pushed to the extreme, and super-large-scale development began to become the mainstream. XCMG exhibited the world's largest tonnage pure electric loader XC9108-EV, the largest tonnage electric drive horizontal directional drilling rig XZE16000, the largest tonnage XR2600F rotary drilling rig, the largest diameter down-the-hole drilling rig XQZ229 in China, and the XE3000 miningexcavator.

In the 150-ton to 200-ton super-large excavator class, Sany exhibited the "giant" SY2000H, a super-large mining excavator with a total weight of 215t and a bucket capacity of 12m³, achieving a new breakthrough in the field of "energy saving + intelligent control" technology. Shantui exhibited the mining overlord SE2000LCW excavator, with a power of 900kW, 12% higher than similar products.

Zoomlion exhibited the 165-ton mining excavator ZE1650G, Taiyuan Heavy Industry exhibited the TZ1600EM methanol extended-range hydraulic excavator, and XCMG launched a variety of mining excavator models including the XE1600H hybrid power.

Lovol Heavy Industry released a 150-ton cold-region powertrain mining excavator and a 130-ton unmanned wide-body mining truck. Hengwang Group releasethe HW1300 crawler excavator designed specifically for mining construction. Lishide launched the SC1100.10 super-large front shovel hydraulic excavator.

In the field of mining trucks, XCMG's XDE260 dual-axle rigid mining truck, Sany's SET240S three-engine hybrid mining truck, and Shantui's TEH160 mining truck

are all hard-core trucks at bauma CHINA 2024...

At bauma CHINA 2020, large excavators of 100 tons were once the highlight. Now, four years later, the focus of competition in the field of mining and engineering machinery has begun to rise to 150 tons, and even above 200 tons. In addition to the main brands, more and more companies are beginning tojoin the competition. The innovative development and extraordinary strength of China's high-end large-scale mining and engineering machinery are amazing.

From products to industrial chains, new energy and intelligent industrial transformation.

    
The first display of new energy construction machinery products, especially earthmoving construction machinery products, at bauma CHINA can be traced back to 2016. Hangzhou Lanli Electric Technology Co., Ltd. released its first mobile power-supply electric excavator, which attracted great attention from the constructionand construction machinery industries, and became a symbol of the initial application of new energy technology in the construction machinery industry.     

At bauma CHINA 2018, electrification further emerged,Volvo exhibited the groundbreaking all-electric automatic concept wheel loader "ZEUX", and Shandong Lingong released the pure electric concept small excavator E660F-EX.   

At bauma CHINA 2020, although the scale and variety of new energy and intelligent products have increased dramatically,

 they only account for a small part of the exhibition.XCMG exhibited the "Town Elf" XE35U-E micro electric excavator, and Sany also exhibited 15 electric products including pure electric excavators, 

unmanned mixer trucks, trailer pumps, unmanned rollers, and mine trucks. Zoomlion exhibited 5G remote-controlled excavators, tower cranes, pump trucks and other equipment by integrating machine vision, artificial intelligence and 5G communication technology. Volvo exhibited three electric crawler excavators and wheeled excavators, EC55 Electric, EC230 Electric and EX03. Shandong Lingong exhibited the unmanned excavator "Xiaolin" E6135F. Caterpillar Shangong exhibiteda concept electric drive 658D loader. Changlin of SINOMACH Heavy Industry Group released two electric products, the 323Ev electric excavator and the 950E electric loader.

At bauma CHINA 2024, new energy, greening and intelligence have become one of the core topics of the exhibition. 

From single electric products to full series and full life cycle solutions, 

the exhibits cover new new energy equipment products such as hybrid, electric and hydrogen energy.Group companies 

such as XCMG, Zoomlion, and Sany have set up special new energy display theme areas, launched a number of domestically produced new energy host productsand core components, and demonstrated a variety of intelligent unmanned construction scenarios and smart solutions.

The E-MOVE fully electric excavator robot launched by Sany is undoubtedly one of the most eye-catching representatives of new energy products. Its silver and black color scheme and high-tech exterior make the excavator of the future world concrete at this moment. Pure electric drive, zero emission, low noise and high efficiency and intelligence are the dazzling labels of E-MOVE.

In addition, the Sany SY215e, also known as the "Blue Smurf", has achieved great improvements in charging, endurance, work efficiency, etc. Xu Haijun, general manager of Sany Heavy Machinery's electrification company, said in an interview with this magazine that from the perspective of excavators,electrification is a great help in entering high-end markets such as Europe.

As a crossover to the new energy track, Borreton exhibited two pure electric mining trucks, BRT120E and BRT105E, two pure electric loaders, BRT968K and BRT958KLE, and unmanned intelligent cockpits. Both mining trucks natively support Borreton's unmanned driving technology. Looking to the future, Borreton Chairman Chen Fangming believes that the penetration rate of electrification of loaders, mining trucks, and excavators (mining machines) may reach more than 80% in five years.

Zoomlion has launched the world's first parallel-parallel hybrid wide-body mining vehicle ZT160HEV and five electrified innovative products, including thepure electric excavators ZE215GE and ZE75GE, the pure electric skid loader ZS080VE, and the pure electric wheel loaders ZWL55GE and ZWL75GE.

For energy-saving products, in addition to pure electric and hybrid, hydrostatic is also a development direction for small products. Shandong Lingong exhibited the small hydrostatic loader L902H built for the high-end market.

Anhui Heli launched the world's largest tonnage 55-ton lithium battery forklift and the heavyweight innovative product G3 series 1.3-2t front-wheel dual-drivethree-pivot lithium battery forklift. Anhui Heli's hydrogen fuel forklift products cover 2 tons to 25 tons, and have established more than 100 demonstration application scenarios, making sufficient technical reserves and product layout to promote the growth of the entire industrial new energy.

In addition, it is particularly worth mentioning that the newly established "New Energy Technology" exhibition theme of bauma CHINA 2024 has attracted traditional power system suppliers such as Cummins and Weichai Power, as well as upstream battery and supporting companies in the new energy industry chain such as CATL and Fudi Battery to appear on the same stage, promoting cross-border cooperation between new energy companies and construction machinery manufacturers.

In order to adapt to the low-carbon trend of the off-road market, Cummins specially demonstrated the hybrid system tailored for excavators and mining trucks, covering Cummins 15L engine hybrid power system, Meritor's latest 145-ton mining vehicle axle main drive and all-in-one power electronic products. It provides differentiated hybrid technology architecture for different application scenarios of construction machinery and equipment to meet the needs of variousoff-road operations such as excavators, loaders, mining trucks and cranes.

CATL has released four versions of Tianxing batteries for heavy-duty commercial vehicles: "4c super charging version, long life version, super endurance version, and high-strength version for construction machinery". These batteries represent some of the solutions that have been finally obtained after years of exploration ofapplication scenarios for heavy trucks and construction machinery.

BYD Fudi Battery has launched three series of innovative products equipped with high-safety LFP blade batteries: "the world's first CTB engineering machinerybattery, the first disruptive hybrid battery product, and the fastest charging pure electric engineering machinery battery."

 At bauma CHINA 2024, we saw the integration of new energy, digital and intelligent products, as well as the full extension of the industrial chain and technologychain from the product itself to the upstream. Against the background of increasingly stringent environmental protection requirements, the green and sustainabledevelopment of major equipment will become an important trend in the future. Chinese construction machinery companies will pay more attention to the research and development and application of technologies in energy conservation and emission reduction, resource recycling, etc., to promote the harmonious developmentof the construction machinery industry and the environment.

 Reshape the ecosystem, from different product lines to complete solutions.

It is difficult to determine exactly when the term “complete solution” first appeared. Judging from the search results, at the 2016 bauma CHINA exhibition, some large host manufacturers began to provide comprehensive solutions including equipment, services and technical support.

With the changes in the ecology of China's construction machinery industry, especially the increasing active exploration and progress in technology integration,construction application and sustainable development, "complete solutions" have become a stunning highlight at bauma CHINA 2024. This evolution trend willalso have a profound impact on the future development direction and market competition landscape of China's construction machinery industry.

Based on its deep insight into customers' downstream construction scenarios and the diversified advantages of its own products, 

XCMG Group demonstrated three complete solutions. One is the full-process construction plan for underground non-coal mining, which covers the entire process of digging, anchoring, mining,loading and transportation, and reflects XCMG's overall planning and collaborative operation capabilities in the field of underground mining. The organic 

combination of multiple equipment can improve mining efficiency and ensure the continuity and safety of the construction process; the second is the all-electriccomplete set of excavation and transportation solutions for tunnel construction, which is the only all-electric complete set of excavators in the industry. The combined shipping solution is significantly environmentally friendly and highly efficient. Mainly using pure electric equipment, it reduces exhaust emissions during tunnel construction and improves the construction environment. The integrated charging and battery replacement design solves the problem of battery life of electric equipment and ensures the continuity of construction. The third is the complete construction plan for road construction, which shows the whole processfrom asphalt preparation to road surface forming, reflecting XCMG's leading position in the field of road construction. Service capabilities. Asphalt preparation equipment ensures the quality and proportion of raw materials, paving equipment can achieve high-precision road paving, and compaction equipment ensures the compaction and flatness of the road surface. The complete solution for the entire process helps to improve the quality of road construction, shorten theconstruction period, and provide efficient and reliable technical support for road construction.

Shantui showcased its "intelligent construction integrated solution" and "new energy integrated solution". The former mainly refers to the DH17-Gi2 intelligent bulldozer, which is the first domestically developed product with automatic leveling function and deeply integrated with the whole machine. The latter includes the DE26-X3 pure electric bulldozer, LE60-X5 pure electric loader and SE215EI pure electric excavator.

The integrated solutions exhibited by Lovol include mining construction solutions and new energy transportation solutions. The former includes a 150-ton cold-region powertrain mining excavator and a 130-ton unmanned wide-body mining truck, demonstrating its deep accumulation of intelligent technology andinnovative ability to improve mining operation efficiency. The latter includes a 7-ton hybrid loader FL978K-H and a pure electric mining truck LT105E, representingthe technological breakthrough of large-tonnage new energy loaders and a zero-emission solution for mining transportation, respectively.

Lingong Heavy Machinery has launched a series of hybrid technology solutions, including pure electric and hybrid mining truck 

technology, pure electric and hybrid AWP technology, pure electric and hybrid forklift technology, etc.

Lingong Heavy Machinery's hybrid technology leads the industry in energy management,electrification, efficiency, and safety. Wide-body mining trucks using hybrid technology solutions can reduce energy consumption by more than 30% and save more than 30% in thermal management.

With the theme of "Enabling Electrification", Parker Hannifin provides an electrification product portfolio including GVM vehicle motors and GVI inverters, as wellas high-quality solutions for three major application scenarios: aerial work vehicles, material handling and excavators, to help the construction machinery industry achieve green and sustainable development.

The high-end intelligent logistics handling and integrated solutions unveiled by Anhui Heli fully demonstrated Heli's leading innovation and high-end brand leadership.

Caterpillar brought a range of innovative products, services and solutions to support customers' needs for performance, durability and economic value, demonstrating its continued investment in core technologies in the fields of unmanned driving, alternative fuels, connectivity and digitalization, and electrification (AACE) in recent years.