Regularly readers of my Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column will know that I usually dig around Chinese shopping sites to find the wackiest and coolest little EVs in the world. That’s resulted in finding everything from electric submarines to small electric Jeeps. But this time I’d say that today’s vehicles are less weird and more awesome, especially if you’ve been looking for your own electrically-powered construction equipment for your property or work site. These types of little electric mini loaders could be the perfect size with regard to hobby farms and small ranches. And they’re pretty darn affordable, too!
I’ve looked into electric loading machines before, plus even covered another one over a year ago. But electric mini loaders from China have come a long way, as you can see by the particular latest models.
I stumbled upon this company Aolite, which manufacturers a pile associated with construction gear from pint-sized to massive. They’ve expanded into electrically-powered construction products lately and two of their loaders have caught my eye.
Their first model, which seems to be produced by a number of sources, is the Aolite 604 . It’s the 1, 120 kg (2, 470 lb) mini loader that can lift up to 400 kg (880 lb) in its front bucket. It zips close to at between 10-18 km/h (6-11 mph) depending on what gear you keep it in, plus gets powered by a pair of 1800W motors for the four-wheel-drive system. A third 3, 000W motor runs the hydraulic system, which usually includes a third circuit (in addition to the lifting and dumping circuit) to create a quick hitch program or power hydraulic accessories like gripper buckets, digger attachments, etc .
The lead acid batteries aren’t fancy, but they help add to the ballast weight and give the electrical loader the run time of 6-7 hours. And of course the lack of a diesel engine has a long list of advantages. You don’t spend hours on end breathing within a toxic cloud of carcinogens, you don’t possess to wear ear protection to avoid slowly going deaf, the entire vehicle isn’t vibrating the particular entire period, and this can even be used indoors regarding interior demolitions and reconstruction!
For those that want something even bigger, the Aolite 606 loader is nearly twice the size, weighing in at 2, 050 kg (4, 520 lb). It has a more powerful lifting capacity associated with up in order to 700 kilogram (1, 540 lb) through a larger bucket. The two drive motors are each 3, 500W, with the larger 5, 000W motor powering the particular hydraulic system.
And check out how affordable these little loaders are. The particular smaller electric powered mini loader model is priced at US $4, 900 for a single unit, though the price drops to US $4, 500 if you buy ten of them.
The 606 loader is a bit pricer, coming in at US $8, 300 intended for a single unit. Just like the 604 design, the price drops as you buy more. Pick up eight of these bad boys and they’re a modest US $7, 500 a piece. For comparison, a similarly spec’d diesel-powered Bobcat L23 articulated loader is priced at about US $40, 000.
Both of these loaders come with a ton of optional add-ons (that every cost several hundred dollars) and that will can be swapped in place of the particular traditional loader bucket. Unfortunately they are’t compatible with each other due to the 606’s larger size.
They’ve got grass forks, pallet forks, grapple buckets, snow sweepers/plows/blowers, concrete mixing buckets, grain buckets, augers, hammers, 4-in-1 buckets, barrel clamps, and much more!
The company actually has an articulating electric fork lift built on a similar chassis, though I’m not sure I can find as many uses for any fork raise.
Since the loaders can come with a pallet fork for an extra couple hundred bucks, you can easily turn them in to small shell lifts, even if they don’t have the same lifting height as the real fork lift offered by Aolite.
Now here’s the particular thing: because my regular readings will again already know, most associated with the time I just enjoy finding fun EVs upon Alibaba simply by window shopping, but I’ve already been known to actually buy the ones that really strike my fancy. That how I wound up with an electric small truck and a 5-seater electric boat , among other odd purchases.
And now I’m seriously considering getting an electric mini loader. For context: the parents own a small ranch along with 10 acres of land, which is where my mini-truck lives out its days as a work truck (which is good since it’s not technically street-legal). An electric loader that does overtime as a small tractor would be useful to have got on the house, and these might fit the bill.
So I have inquired about what goes into buying one of those, which led me down a road to realize I’m probably getting in over my head — yet that’s fine, I’ll just buy a snorkel too.
The particular company’s sales rep “Alison” has been helping me personally, and she’s a peach. I didn’t even tell her I’m internet famous to get buying questionable stuff on Alibaba or that I write this line, but she’s been helping me figure out all the options pertaining to models, components, packing plus shipping in order to the ALL OF US.
You see, you can’t just buy one of these since most freight companies won’t let you do LCL (less than container load) shipping, that is where the cargo is just tossed in the shared container and you only pay for that space a person take upward. That’s exactly how I shipped my boat from China, but that only weighed 400-something-pounds.
So basically, I’d need to import an entire container of such electric small loaders if I wanted 1. A full 40ft box would fit 10 of the smaller loaders or even 8 of the bigger loaders. That’s a bit much for me, but it turns out you can get a half-sized 20ft pot that will certainly fit four of either model.
The only problem is I don’t need 4. I need one. Or maybe two, if I want one associated with the big ones and one of the particular little ones. We don’t know what I’d do with four electric mini loaders. Maybe buy a 6-ft beach ball and play 2-on-2 loader soccer with them?
That’s the bridge I am still trying to determine out how to cross. If anyone lives within trucking range of South Florida and wants to buy a mini loader, talk to myself.
I’m not sure just how far I actually plan to go down this rabbit hole, but the more I look at these things, and the more I watch videos like the a single below, the particular more We start in order to wonder how I’ve made it this particular far in life without my own backyard electrical mini loader. There’s a decent chance you’ll see me in another month or so with a follow up article: Oops, I bought a container load of Chinese building equipment.