Fully electric paver completes UK highway resurfacing trial

At 22:05, on the A128 Tilbury Road in Brentwood, Essex, Eurovia Surfacing started an overnight resurfacing shift with a fully electric Dynapac SD25 80C e. At 01:08, the paver finished its final load after laying 240.32 tonnes of asphalt, and Eurovia said it had done so without recharging, with 57% of its battery capacity still available.

The machine’s 294 kWh battery powers five electric motors, with peak output of up to 235 kW. Dynapac’s specifications suggest operation for up to 10 hours on one charge and more than 1,000t in a shift under suitable conditions. The trial included a warm-mix AC 20 HDM binder course and a Fibrovia 10 PMB surface course; its results indicated that screed heating and layer installation stayed within a typical overnight programme.

For road crews and nearby residents, the immediate change is at the worksite: electric pavers remove tailpipe emissions at the point of use and can substantially reduce noise. That could support night-time resurfacing near residential areas and help with local environmental limits. SMT GB road-equipment director Andy Bullock also pointed to lower operating costs, though that claim will need to be weighed against the machine’s purchase price.

The harder questions begin when one shift becomes a fleet. Paul Goosey, Eurovia’s managing director, said electric plant currently requires significantly greater upfront investment than conventional diesel equipment. Scaling up may require planning for rapid recharging or battery swaps, depot grid capacity and possible on-site charging. This trial covers one shift and a defined production volume; longer operations, variable ambient temperatures, different asphalt mixes, reliability and maintenance still need testing.

And so, concretely: for Eurovia and other contractors making fleet-investment decisions, the trial provides a real overnight case in which an electric paver completed the work without a recharge. It does not yet answer whether conventional diesel equipment can be replaced across a fleet. Eurovia says the findings will feed into its Environmental Roadmap and future investment choices.