The family-owned and -operated company Cox Construction, located a couple hours west of Toronto, is approaching its 80th year in business.
Russel Cox started the business in 1946, buying a used crusher capable of processing up to 75 tons per hour. The company grew organically, adding a crushing plant, a truck, a tractor, a semitrailer and, later on, an asphalt plant. Adding a gravel pit at a nearby lake provided a local source of aggregate for crushing and asphalt jobs.
“[My father] started crushing rocks to begin with, and now we’re in road building, asphalt production, paving and grading,” says Regan Cox, who now serves as the company’s president.
The company is based in Guelph, Ontario, but teams work in various pits and plants across the southeast part of the province.
Cox Construction was at the forefront of the revolution of the heavy construction industry in the 1960s and ’70s, when the introduction of diesel generators and hydraulic power changed the way contractors worked, to the ’90s, when computer technology led to rapid advances. From humble beginnings when its only crusher had to be overhauled nearly every night to work again the next day, the company now is leading the way toward the industry’s future with electric equipment.
“Being in the quarry business, one may not think that an electric excavator would be the tool you might find in our background,” Cox says. “However, we’ve been able to implement a small, 2-and-a-half-ton electric excavator to break up oversize on top of our crusher.”
Batteries breaking boulders
Cox Construction produces road building materials out of five gravel pit locations in southwestern Ontario and four portable crushing plants. The company crushes, screens and stockpiles aggregate and sells a variety of stone, sand and gravel materials.
Cox Construction now owns two ECR25 Electric compact excavators from Volvo Construction Equipment, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, which sit atop large crushing setups to break down rocks that are too big to fit into the crusher. Despite the company’s skepticism the first time battery-electric machinery was suggested, the team says it has been very happy with the purchases.
“The transition from the diesel machine that we had before to the electric has basically been seamless,” says Brandon Crumbie, a crusher foreman at Cox Construction. “I really like it because there’s less warm-up time. You just hit the key and away you go. It’ll do every job you could ever need.”
Cox and Crumbie both say the ECR25 Electric has the power they need while requiring a fraction of the maintenance performed on the diesel model the company previously used to do the job.
“It doesn’t have a motor on it, so we’re not having to change engine oil. We’re not having to change filters,” Crumbie says. “The only thing you have to worry about is the hydraulic system. You don’t have to worry about getting fuel out to it.”
The company’s dealer partner, Ben Waldron at Nors Construction Equipment Canada, Ontario, says an electric machine might cost more up front but offers a good return on investment in the long run thanks to simpler maintenance and the ability to take on work that other machines cannot handle.
“He’s saving money because he’s not doing regular maintenance the way you would on a diesel piece of machinery,” says Waldron, who has been a sales manager in the area for eight years. “He’s not turning a machine on and letting it idle for several hours during a shift. They aren’t losing injectors. They’re not having mechanical failures on the machine because of the intense vibrations from the crushing plant.”
Waldron says many Canadian government contracts are starting to require that contractors show a path toward sustainability, and electric equipment helps them do that. He describes Cox as an early adopter who he knew would give electric equipment the consideration it deserves.
“He’s a guy who looks for innovation and cost savings in every aspect of his business,” Waldron says. “The first time you bring electric up, it usually involves some laughter. But then, like Regan does, he went home and thought about it, and he called me about a week later and asked me a million questions.”
“Ben and Nors’ support to make sure that the machine could do the job is what helped us make our decision,” Cox says. “This relationship will definitely continue to prosper to both our benefits in the future.”
No charging concerns
The Cox Construction team is running an ECR25 Electric excavator on top of a 600-volt crusher at a contracted site and charging it from the generator that powers the full lineup requires a minimal draw.
“Currently, charging is dependent on how much duty the excavator is doing,” Cox says. “Sometimes it’s only operating twice within a 14-hour shift, sometimes it’s 10 times. But charging has not been a problem—we can go up to two weeks’ time on a charge.”
“It’s very easy to charge,” Crumbie adds. “You just get your charging cable and adapter, and you plug it in and hit the button on the dash.”
“The transition from the diesel machine that we had before to the electric has basically been seamless. I really like it because there’s less warm-up time. You just hit the key and away you go.” — Brandon Crumbie, a crusher foreman at Cox Construction
The excavator is fitted with a hydraulic hammer and additional guarding for safety, and the team says the constant vibration of the crusher affects it much less than the previous diesel model because the electric excavator has far fewer components.
This swap has allowed Cox Construction to use its diesel model on other projects, further optimizing the way the company uses equipment across the fleet.
Even Cox’s 99-year-old father, Russel, who still works one day a week in the office, is impressed by the innovation of EV machinery.
“Electric is not for all contractors, but if it’s something that’s close together, it makes for a very unique way of power,” Russel Cox says.
Evolution and electrification
Cox says his team has trusted Volvo equipment for decades, including the manufacturer’s excavators and articulated dump trucks. As Volvo and other manufacturers continue to develop electric models of popular machinery, he intends to remain open-minded about what the future could look like for the Cox Construction fleet.
“With the evolution of battery life, we look forward to being able to use more electric vehicles in the future to meet our sustainability goals,” he says.
And for operators who might still carry a bit of skepticism, Crumbie encourages an open mind.
“Electric is the way of the future, and this is a great little machine,” he says. “I think it’s going to work out great.”
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