Innovative Iron Awards 2020: Perkins Ecoplus Filters, Chevron’s Delo 600 ADF Oil and Deutz’s Advanced Configurator/Electric Hybrid Drive System

We Honor the Top Equipment of 2020

Even when the world shut down this year, construction equipment continued to roll. Since the beginning of the pandemic, crews and projects have been considered essential. Key machinery markets like housing are actually bucking the trend and growing in our new Covid economy. Somehow, I was able to attend two important machine tradeshows in February and March (The Rental Show and CONEXPO-CON/AGG) before all the chaos, and equipment manufacturers continued to release awesome, industry-changing products throughout 2020 despite the incredible challenges. The persistence, dedication and innovation of both equipment makers and the equipment trades (construction, rental, ag, landscape and beyond) blew me away this year. They helped build a clearer path in our radically changed world, and I’d like to honor all of them by highlighting what I consider the best compact, off-highway machines, technologies and OEM systems released for sale or concept in 2020. Congrats to all the companies included, and thanks to all the men and women behind these brands. They are essential in today’s rapidly changing world.

Innovative OEMs

Perkins

The always innovative experts at Perkins introduced their excellent Ecoplus oil filter line in 2020, which uses a replaceable element inside a reusable filter housing. This eliminates the disposable metal canister, keeping them out of landfills. The Ecoplus filter can also be incinerated where local regulations allow. Compared to traditional spin-on oil filters, Ecoplus filters have no metal content, are smaller, have higher quality media and use a glass-filled nylon body housing that is very tough and can withstand extreme changes in temperature. For more info, visit perkins.com/ecoplus.

Chevron

Released December 2019, we’re making an exception for Chevron’s new Delo 600 ADF super low sulfated ash oil in our 2020 innovations. Chevron’s Delo 600 ADF with Omnimax boasts way less maintenance for Tier 4 Final emissions-compliant off-highway diesel engines — specifically engines using diesel particulate filters (DPFs). Heavy-duty engine oil produces about 1 percent sulfated ash. Chevron’s Delo 600 ADF is formulated to 0.4 percent sulfated ash. This equates to a 60 percent reduction of ash in the DPF and translates to DPF service life 2.5 times longer than standard. For more info, visit chevronlubricants.com.

Deutz

Deutz rocked CONEXPO-CON/AGG in March with a whole host of awesome new technology. Two favorites include the Deutz Advanced Configurator app, which is a modular product design toolbox to help OEMs engineer diesel, gas, hybrid, electric and hydrogen technologies to create the best possible solution. Deutz also presented an electric hybrid drive system in 2020 designed specifically for use in aerial working platforms for low-load applications. The new Deutz D 1.2 hybrid engine combines a highly compact three-cylinder diesel engine with a capacity of 1.2 liters and a 48-volt electric motor. For more info, visit deutzusa.com.