by Nick Drew | Tue 14 Aug 2018
Volvo E Series upgrade for Cornish operator
Since establishing the business in January 2008, Liskeard based Tony Wagner Plant Hire has expanded rapidly over the past 10 years. As part of the company’s fleet renewal programme they have recently taken delivery of a new 22-tonne class Volvo EC220E which the Digger Man Blog popped down to take a look at.
The new machine which has been supplied by SMT GB, has replaced an outgoing EC220D model on the Wagner fleet which has been operated by well known local lad Ryan Stallard for the past 3.5 years, during which time he has amassed just over 6000 hours on it. Ryan himself was the company’s first fully employed operator having initially taken the seat in a 13-tonne class Cat 312E excavator.
Ryan was later promoted onto the 22-tonne machine which was in fact his first time on a machine in that size bracket and has not looked back since, spending much of his time on hire to well respected company Champion Groundworks from Liskeard and it was on one of their sites in St Austell where we caught up with man and machine to chat with him about being rewarded with this brand new machine.
Built in Volvo’s facility in Konz, Germany, the EC220E L features an in-house 6-cylinder, Tier 4 Final emissions compliant Volvo D6J engine, which offers a power output rating of 129kw (173hp) @1800rpm. To meet emission regulations this machine uses DEF Diesel Exhaust Fluid (AdBlue) The machines exhaust after treatment system consists of a Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) and the aforementioned DEF comprising of AdBlue tank, pump, dosing unit and mixing chamber. As with most of these systems today, exhaust regeneration generally takes place automatically without the need for any input from the operator.
On the day of our visit it was clear to see that Ryan was one very happy operator and a beaming smile said it all as he went about his business on site, talking about his new mount Ryan said, “I’m really happy with the machine. All the small changes that Volvo have made on the E series are amazing and they really have thought about driver ease and comfort, its just a great place to spend my working day’s in!”
I would have to echo Ryan’s sentiments about the level of cab comfort on offer in Volvo excavator cabs, from my recent experience in Sweden I can safely say that they really are setting the benchmark in cab ergonomics.
Talking about this latest arrival Wagner Plant Hire's Managing Director Tony Wagner said, "We get excellent service from SMT GB and its great to continue my good working relationship with with our local sales manager Richard Shelbourne, who always goes that extra mile to help us".
Check out our video footage of Wagner Plant’s latest acquisition in action.