Ultra-Quiet Kubota’s in the Garden of Eden

An electric powered compact loading shovel has been doing a bit of gardening work down here in Cornwall just recently and has proven to be the ideal choice for a very well-known local attraction.

Further enhancing their ‘Green Credentials’ the Eden Project has been playing its part in the drive towards carbon neutrality by using a couple of electric powered machines from Japanese manufacturer Kubota.

Ground care staff have been using a Kubota LXe-261 electric compact tractor and the RT220-2e electric compact wheeled loader, on various jobs across the impressive 200-acre site, which was once a disused China clay mine, and is now home to one of the worlds largest indoor tropical rainforests.

Trundling around the peaceful surroundings, it appears that the electric machines are the perfect solution for such environmentally special venue and its not hard to see how they fit the bill.

I’ve not spent any time on the compact tractor as its not really our sector, but I was fortunate enough to spend some time on the RT220-2e during the UK launch event of the KX085-5 midi excavator at an Oxfordshire golf club.

Built for Kubota by Dutch manufacturers Tobroco Giant, the RT220-2e has an operating weight of 2200kg in its canopy variant, and offers a lifting height of 2.45m and a lifting capacity of 2,054kgs.

I must admit, I warmed to the machine quite quickly, not only was this RT220-2e that was made available for us a lot of fun to run, it was equally up to the task of the job in hand.

Kubota offer three different lithium-ion battery options for these machines comprising of 260Ah 390Ah, 520Ah with a built-in charger of 40A or 60A. In addition, there are also two stand-alone 415V 3-phase supercharger options available, consisting of the 150A or 300A.

According to Kubota, these super charger units can charge a battery fully in a time frame ranging from 90 minutes for the rapid charge up to 4 hours, which is variable depending on the size of your preferred battery size option, as with most batteries, the larger the capacity the better the endurance, just like a mobile phone for instance. There are two sockets for charging, one for the super charger and one for plugging into the domestic market electric supply.

The simplicity of the system is surprising, with the two batteries supplying power to two powerful high torque electric motors, one 6.5kW for the drive motor, and a 12kW provides the power for the machines hydraulic motor, with the system operating the loader arms, bucket tip/return and power steering.

The all-wheel drive machines feature three driving speeds, selectable from a button on the joystick, (0-5 km/h in tortoise mode, a mid-range setting of 0-12km/h, and a top speed hare mode of 0-18km/h, differential locks on the front and rear axles provide great traction on all types of terrain.

Checkout the promotional video from Kubota UK below.