Altrad Belle extends battery powered range

Altrad Belle used its appearance at a new UK rental exhibition in Birmingham this October to showcase its latest battery powered construction tools, including a concrete mixer, plate compactor, disc cutter and poker drive unit.

Exhibiting at the ‘Onsite on Hire’ zone within the UK Construction Week show at the NEC, the UK manufacturer highlighted its new DC 300E+ disc cutter, which is now in production.

Altrad Belle’s new battrery powered disc cutter, the DC 300E+, pictured at the Onsite on Hire show at the NEC Birmingham. (Photo: IRN)

The cutter – and all its battery powered machines - uses an 82V battery sourced from Asia.

Ray Neilson, Altrad Belle’s managing director, told International Rental News that the company “went for high power to start - we are competing with petrol machines. Big contractors want to make the move to battery power.”

He said the disc cutter will be priced around 30% more than the engine powered equivalent, but said the battery powered unit will be more reliable – with no petrol flooding problems, for example – and would weigh around the same as petrol cutters.

The 300E+ (pictured right) uses a 300mm blade and is said to provide a true 112mm cutting depth, meaning it will cut through a standard wastewater pipe or block.

It also marks an entry into disc cutters for Altrad Belle, since it did not make a petrol version. Said Neilson; “When we got into the battery powered concrete mixers, customers said they wanted a saw with the same battery.” The unit includes a two year rental warranty.

The company is also strengthening its battery powered range of plate compactors, with battery versions of its PCLX 32 and 40 models soon to be available. A prototype 32 E+ was on show at the NEC (see photo).

Prototype PCLX 32 E+ plate compactor from Altrad Belle at the NEC Onsite on Hire zone within the UK Construction Week exhibition (Photo: IRN)

“We will have battery versions of the range – people want it”, said Neilson. “If you give them the product at the right price and power.”

Neilson added that Altrad Belle will continue to sell its petrol machines; “We don’t know how long petrol engines will carry on. Fortunately, we are getting batteries at the right price and the right life…there is a viable alternative [to petrol].”

Onsite on Hire is a new zone within UK Construction Week designed to showcase innovative rental equipment to the core audience of contractors and builders at the show. There were plenty of UK rental firms in evidence at the NEC as well.

The next UK Construction Week - incorporating Onsite on Hire - will take place at the Excel centre in London on 7-9 May 2025 and it returns to the NEC in Birmingham on 30 Sept to 2 October 2025.