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Curry Supply is introducing a new line of service truck bodies: Keystone and Keystone Pro. The Pro version features a crane body, and both models are built using light-weight, high-strength aluminum.

The crane tower on the Keystone Pro can handle up to a 25,000-foot-pound crane, while still providing compartment space for tool and equipment storage. Custom features and upgrades will be available on both Keystone builds, with work-ready stock trucks ready to ship nationwide beginning in the fourth quarter of 2021. Options include tool drawers and bolt bins, e-track, lube equipment, welder/generators, air compressors and multiple crane models.

Keystone bodies feature a 52-inch-wide and 129-inch-deep bed, with tie-down rings and a textured, slip-resistant floor for added safety. Each side features four compartments, three vertical and one horizontal, with at least 20 inches of depth and adjustable shelving. Protected door seals and stainless-steel rotary latches ensure compartments stay secure and watertight.

“Curry Supply’s introduction of the Keystone line of service bodies will fill a void in the mobile service truck market that we have experienced for quite some time,” says Jeff Shaw, company vice president of sales and marketing.

“Service trucks typically fall on the polar ends of both price and durability. You either have a robust, heavy-duty offering with tons of added content, or a light-duty offering that struggles to keep up in severe-duty environments and doesn’t accept application-specific modifications well. To find the middle ground, buyers are typically left to add light-duty options to an over-built body, or “heavier” options to a body that wasn’t designed to handle it.”

The objective at Keystone was to design a product optimized to hold up well in severe-duty environments and accept application-specific modifications at a lower price than most heavy-duty products, says Shaw. This resulted in features such as reinforced side packs with mounting rails to handle heavier accessories, robust doors, hinges, and weatherproofing.

“All of these address the common complaints contractors voice about light-duty service bodies,” says Shaw. “We reduced content by making crane reinforcement optional, and even still, we only engineered the reinforcements to some of the lighter duty electric/hydraulic cranes common to the applications this product was intended.” 

The Keystone and Keystone Pro will be positioned alongside Curry Supply’s current offerings of Stellar, Autocrane, Reading, and Wilcox bodies.

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Compact wheel loaders continue to grow in popularity as contractors discover their many attributes: how they can dump higher, travel faster and turn tighter than skid steers and compact track loaders. And did we mention they do all this with a smaller engine and great fuel economy?

Bobcat’s latest entries into the compact wheel loader field include the L65 and L85 with standard bucket capacities of up to 1 cubic yard and a Z-bar front linkage. In addition to buckets and pallet forks, the new loaders hook up to a wide range of Bobcat tools and attachments using the powered Bob-Tach system.

The new loaders run on a redesigned Tier 4 Final Bobcat engine with improved cold-weather starting capability and components simplified for routine maintenance. The 2.4-liter turbocharged diesel engines put out 55 and 68 horsepower on the L65 and L85, respectively. The attachment control mode enables you to vary the engine and travel speeds separately to optimize auxiliary hydraulic performance.

Bobcat L85 compact wheel loaderDoosan BobcatA large fuel filter protects the engine from contamination and results in a longer filter life and increased holding capacity. The lift pump and self-priming fuel system offers continuous forced air outflow and eliminates the need for a primer bulb. And a pre-filter protects the lift pump from debris and particles that increase wear and degrade performance.

Articulated steering on the new L65 and L85 loaders delivers high maneuverability and a tight turning radius. The electronic hydrostatic transmission (E-HST) makes quick forward-reverse direction changes efficiently, increasing acceleration and delivering seamless speed control. The combination of the E-HST transmission and horsepower management automatically adjusts the loaders’ drive system to maximize pushing and loading power while minimizing the chance of stalling. Unlike other anti-stall systems, operators can maximize engine and drive torque on the L65 and L85 to match the demands of heavy lifting and digging.

Standard features include two-speed travel, differential lock, inching pedal, LED work lights, bucket level indicator and a 5-inch display with jog shuttle. Upgrade options include an attachment control device (seven pin connector), automatic ride control, enclosed cab with HVAC, rearview camera and a cloth suspension seat.

Quick Specs

Bobcat L65>

• Rated Operating Capacity with Bucket (Straight) 3,133 lb.

• Rated Operating Capacity with Bucket (Articulated) 2,618 lb.

• Rated Operating Capacity with Forks (Straight) 3,759 lb.

• Rated Operating Capacity with Forks (Articulated) 3,172 lb.

• Operating Weight 9,944 lb.

• Auxiliary Std Flow 19.8 gpm

Bobcat L85 >

• Rated Operating Capacity with Bucket (Straight) 3,974 lb.

• Rated Operating Capacity with Bucket (Articulated) 3,257 lb.

• Rated Operating Capacity with Forks (Straight) 4,786 lb.

• Rated Operating Capacity with Forks (Articulated) 3,977 lb.

• Operating Weight 11,164 lb.

• Auxiliary High Flow 27.34 gpm

Asphalt compactors aren’t known as the most difficult machine to operate on the job. Although compactors perform a critical function especially when smoothness specs are at stake, many contractors put their less-seasoned operators on them.

But what if these machines didn’t even require an on-board operator?

Enter Volvo Construction Equipment’s CX01 asphalt compaction concept, a planned ConExpo reveal that had to wait until the recent Utility Expo to get in front of contractors.

“We just wanted to examine what the future of compaction would look like,” Justin Zupanc, head of Volvo CE’s asphalt compaction development team, told Equipment World at the show. “We wanted to create a better operator’s environment, reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions and boost productivity.”

“Better operator environment” translates to no cab. Instead, a connected fleet of CX01 single-drum units directed by a downloaded compaction plan would be either be remotely controlled by an operator or controlled autonomously.

Volvo already has an autonomous system on its TA15 haulers, now in customer testing, and the plan is to test a similar system on the CX01, Zupanc says.

The CX01 does not have an articulation joint “so there’s no balance point, there’s nothing that we can steer away from,” Zupanc says. Volvo solved this by using a split-drum which has two halves that can be operated independently   kept upright by using a self-balancing control system. (The split drum comes off of its current 9-ton class machine sold in Europe.) To turn, operators can vary the rate of speed of each half of the drum. “You can make a fairly tight turn,” he says.

And while it wouldn’t be used while the unit is on asphalt, users also would have the ability to pivot steer the machine. 

Rethink the paving process

The Volvo CX01 prototype compactor features guarding and emergency stops on each corner.Equipment World

Volvo says the CX01 which stands for compaction experimental unit No. 1  provides the means to “fundamentally rethink the paving process.” By removing the operator, you’re also removing their exposure to vibration, noise and dust. 

As envisioned, a fleet of CX01s could be deployed on larger jobs and communicate not only with each other but with other machines on site. The machines could survey the job, report on mat conditions such as density, temperature and passes (which intelligent compactors are already doing) and determine when and where to compact. “They can shift over if an area is already compacted,” Zupanc says. “All information is available to the crew and to other machines. You could even send it to the asphalt plant.”

The machine’s compact design and maneuverability could also lead to streamlined compaction cycles, reduced costs and more agile work patterns, Volvo says. The rolling pattern, weight and number of rollers could be adjusted to match the width, thickness and speed of the paving operation. Using Volvo’s existing Co-Pilot system, operators can use a touchscreen to remotely control the compactors.

Flexible power

The CX01 has a flexible power system. It has both a 1.7-liter diesel engine and an energy storage system that can be operated indiesel-only, hybrid or fully electric modes. “The diesel is only there to spin the 20-kilowatt generator,” Zupanc says. The generator in turn powers two 48-volt ultracapacitors placed on each side of the drum, which in turn are powering three 14-kilowatt electric motors, one for each side of the drum, and another to power the vibration system eccentrics. 

“You can run it with the diesel engine on, and it’s always charging the ultracapacitors,” Zupanc says. When the ultracapacitors are charged, the engine can be turned off, and the machine becomes fully electric. The engine will cycle back on when the ultracapacitor charges get low. “They charge very quickly, within a couple of minutes,” he says. The downside: the capacitors don’t have the capacity of a lithium-ion battery; runtime is around 20 minutes, depending on your speed.

“We had never used them before, and we wanted to see how they worked,” Zupanc says, explaining why Volvo was using ultracapacitors on the CX01. “While they don’t have the capacity of lithium-ion batteries, they are good for vibration and they have a long lifecycle. They may not be the right solution because they don’t have that longevity, and who knows, we may couple them with a lithium-ion battery pack down the road.”

Because the ultracapacitors need a constant charge, it’s unlikely that the diesel engine will go away as long as they are used. 

Volvo is also exploring using a low-friction water-reduction polymer-based coating on the drum surface now theoretical — which could also be used on its other compactors. This would combat the common problem of asphalt sticking to the drum, now solved by using water. The CX01, however, has limited water storage.

Volvo produced =the following explainer video of how it envisions the CX01 being used:

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A new report estimates that one-fourth of all critical infrastructure in the U.S. is at risk of flooding, and that percentage will increase as storms become more severe due to climate change.

The science and technology nonprofit First Street Foundation, in what it calls “the first ever nationwide community level flood resilience report,” says state and local governments are not equipped to handle the present and future flood risks to critical infrastructure.

“As we saw following the devastation of Hurricane Ida, our nation’s infrastructure is not built to a standard that protects against the level of flood risk we face today, let alone how those risks will grow over the next 30 years as the climate changes,” says Matthew Eby, founder and executive director of First Street Foundation.

The “Infrastructure on the Brink” report says that 25% of current “critical infrastructure,” such as utilities, airports, ports, and emergency services like police, fire and hospitals, is at risk of becoming inoperable due to flooding.

It estimates these other current infrastructure flood risks:

23% of all road segments in the country (nearly 2 million miles of road). 20% of all commercial properties (919,000).17% of all “social infrastructure” facilities (72,000). This includes such properties as schools and government buildings.14% of all residential properties (12.4 million).

The risks are expected to increase through 2051.

“Over the next 30 years, due to the impacts of climate change, an additional 1.2 million residential properties, 66,000 commercial properties, 63,000 miles of roads, 6,100 pieces of social infrastructure and 2,000 pieces of critical infrastructure will also have flood risk that would render them inoperable, inaccessible or impassable,” the report says.

This chart shows the expected increase in flood risks by infrastructure category over the next 30 years.First Street Foundation’s “Infrastructure on the Brink” report

The report shows these four states facing the highest concentration of current risk: Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and West Virginia. Of the top-20 at-risk counties in the U.S., 17 are in these four states.

The report also provides data on all at-risk cities and counties, and you can search on First Street’s website to find the flood risk for your property with the nonprofit’s free FloodFactor tool.

This chart shows the top-20 counties most at-risk to physical infrastructure flooding and the percentages of their infrastructure categories that are at risk. (Note: The “Infrastructure” column represents “critical infrastructure,” such as airports, fire stations, hospitals, police stations, ports, power stations.)First Street Foundation’s “Infrastructure on the Brink” report

For cities facing the most flood risk today, Moliere and New Orleans, Louisiana, top the rankings, with most, if not all, of their infrastructure vulnerable. Cities in California, South Carolina, Florida and Alabama also made the list.

This chart shows the top-20 cities most at-risk to physical infrastructure flooding and the percentages of their infrastructure categories that are at risk. (Note: The “Infrastructure” column represents “critical infrastructure,” such as airports, fire stations, hospitals, police stations, ports, power stations.)First Street Foundation’s “Infrastructure on the Brink” report

The report also looks into the future, showing which counties will see the largest percentage increase in infrastructure risk by 2051. Virginia has several metro areas facing a significantly increased threat. The list also includes counties in North Carolina, Massachusetts, Maryland and Texas.

This chart shows the top-20 counties with the highest estimated percentage increase of risk to physical infrastructure flooding by 2051 and the percentages of their infrastructure categories that are at risk. (Note: The “Infrastructure” column represents “critical infrastructure,” such as airports, fire stations, hospitals, police stations, ports, power stations.)First Street Foundation’s “Infrastructure on the Brink” report

The report says the impact of the increased risks could devastate local communities. It notes that in Harris County, Texas, home to Houston, 770 hospitals, public utilities and water-treatment plants currently risk becoming inoperable due to flooding this year.

Miami-Dade, Florida, has 1,640 schools, churches and museums at risk. The Chicago metro area has 225,000 residential properties at risk. And in the New Orleans area, 99% of the roads are at risk of becoming undrivable because of flooding, the report says.

First Street Foundation hopes the data will help prioritize funding toward protecting infrastructure from flood risks.

“Our work aims to determine the amount of flooding that would render infrastructure either inoperable or inaccessible,” says Dr. Jeremy Porter of First Street Foundation. “By applying research on depth thresholds and comparing them to flood data and probability metrics, we can determine roughly the extent of flooding that would cause a road to be impassable to cars, or a hospital to be shut down.”

This map shows where the greatest flood risks are to infrastructure.First Street Foundation’s “Infrastructure on the Brink” report

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