by Nick Drew | Fri 24 Jun 2022
Hands on with Hyundai at Hillhead
On the first day I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to spend the first couple of shifts demonstrating Hyundai’s new 50-tonne class HX480AL hydraulic excavator high up on the quarry face.
I was invited by Hyundai Construction Equipment Europe, as one of a select group of construction machinery operator/social media influencers which included Amy Underwood aka the digger girl, Kurt Mills aka Lord Muck and James Covell Managing Director of Kings Lynn Construction, all of whom have a very large following across numerous platforms.
Photo courtesy of James Covell. Left to right: James Covell, Lee Appleby (HCEE) Kurt Mills aka Lord Muck, Amy Underwood aka The Digger Girl, unfortunately I missed out on the team photo.
We were to share the demonstration time slots across the first two days of the show, and it was my privilege to be the first one on the machine on day one of the show.
The new HX480AL like its larger brother the HX520AL is powered by a 6-cylinder, Stage V emissions compliant Cummins X12 diesel engine which offers a gross power output rating of 298kW (400hp) @2100 rpm and certainly proved to have plenty of grunt, in the challenging conditions up on the quarry face!
Hyundai’s comfort levels in the cab are up there with anything else on the market, and operators will enjoy all the creature comforts we have come to expect from a modern-day hydraulic excavator. The high-performance air-conditioning system was much appreciated on such a scorching hot day, and the machine was a joy to operate with its smooth and responsive joy stick controls making it all so effortless.
The machine was surprisingly quick for its size, and was an absolute beast in the power department!
I’m hoping to write up a more in-depth report on this machine in due course for Earthmovers Magazine, but in the meantime checkout some of my in-cab footage from Hillhead.