Oslo Leads the Way on Quieter Construction Sites
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Komatsu’s PC01E-2 micro-excavator sits alongside its 20-ton sibling, the PC210LCE-11, during CES 2025 in Las Vegas in 2025. Both are fully electric.
Photographer: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images
A new generation of construction machines is going electric, replacing the growling diesel engines of backhoes, excavators and wheel loaders with a much quieter mechanical whirring. Oslo, an early adopter of the technology, has seen less noisy and less polluting construction sites crop up all over the city.
The Norwegian capital set up the world’s first zero-emissions construction site in 2019. Today, 85% of the city’s municipal projects hold that designation with a goal of converting them all. “Compared to other climate discussions, it has been less polarizing,” Oslo’s vice mayor for environment and transport told CityLab’s Feargus O’Sullivan. Now, other cities are trying out the quiet, cleaner construction. Today on CityLab: Electric Construction Equipment Promises a Quiet Revolution