HPE Africa recently launched the new Hyundai R200LC-9S crawler excavator series in South Africa.

HPE Africa, the exclusive distributor for Hyundai Construction Equipment in southern Africa, has launched the new 20 t class crawler excavator in South Africa. The Hyundai R200LC-9S excavator – with an operating weight of 19,1 t and a heavy duty 0,90 m³ bucket – is ideally suited for demanding requirements of the plant hire, civil engineering, construction, agriculture and scrap handling industries.

“Feedback from the local market highlighted a demand for fuel efficient equipment and Hyundai Construction Equipment has responded to this need with the launch of the new R200LC-9S. Due to improved fuel efficiency, when compared to competitors’ offerings in this class, customers can save up to 80% of their capital expenditure in diesel costs over 12 000 hours of a machine’s service,” says Alex Ackron, MD of HPE Africa.

“Users are also impressed with the long undercarriage design, which ensures greater stability in arduous operating conditions. Customers also appreciate the low maintenance requirements of this series and are impressed by the Hyundai factory offering of a two year/3 000 hour warranty as standard on the series,” adds Ackron.

As part of the launch process, HPE Africa placed an R200LC-9S demonstration unit on site with one of the largest fleet owners of earthmoving equipment in South Africa. Over a 14 -day period, the machine built gravel stockpiles and loaded material into tipper trucks. The operator commented that he was impressed with the machine’s speed and smooth operation. Fuel consumption was carefully monitored by HPE Africa’s technical staff and verified by the client. At the end of the 14-day period, the R200LC-9S achieved an average fuel consumption significantly below the expected 9 litres an hour.

The R200LC-9S excavator also comes standard with Hyundai’s computer aided power optimisation (CAPO) system, which allows the operator to select preferences for boom or swing priority, power mode and optional work tools. Variable operating modes are : P – Power Max mode, which maximises machine speed and power; S – standard mode, which provides a reduced, fixed rpm and E – economy mode, which provides precise hydraulic flow and engine power based on load demand.