Two North East companies have come together to create more environmentally-friendly machinery for the construction industry.
Sunderland’s Hyperdrive Innovation, which develops and manufactures lithium-ion battery technology, is collaborating with Snorkel, around four miles away at Washington, to develop a fully-electric work platform.
Snorkel is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of work platforms, and has a number of electrified products.
But the collaboration with Hyperdrive has led to the development of models that use lithium-ion battery technology that is longer-lasting and cheaper. The new machinery is also desgined to be lower maintenance and quieter than previous models.
The SL26RTE and SL30RTE models have been unveiled at the Bauma trade fair in Berlin, Germany, with the two companies then working together to launch them commercially in less than 12 months.
The collaboration has come as Hyperdrive - which was recently named as one of UK’s fastest growing technology firms - is aiming to triple its UK manufacturing capability in response to national and international growth.
Stephen Irish, founder and commercial director at Hyperdrive, said: “It’s been fantastic to partner with Snorkel on their first lithium-ion battery powered machine.
“To have the opportunity to collaborate with another progressive and forward-thinking business that is at the forefront of their industry is testament to our capabilities and a great example of the wave of clean growth being driven by changing legislation internationally.
“We are delighted to secure the contract to supply the SL26RTE and SL30RTE with the very latest Hyperdrive battery technology and working to a demanding timeline, it has been a pleasure to support Snorkel to take the initial concept vehicle through its development cycle and into production.”
John Gill, chief manufacturing officer at Snorkel, said: “We are pleased to have signed an official supply agreement with Hyperdrive Innovation, with whom Snorkel has worked closely with to develop a stable electric powerchain that can deliver the reliability and performance that our customers require.
“Following very positive feedback to our preview at Bauma, the design has undergone thorough testing, both in concept and in field evaluations, and we are confident that these models will exceed our customers’ expectations.”
