Why Euro 6 generators break down so often. And why Battery Trailers do solve the problem

Why Euro 6 generators break down so often - and why Battery Trailers do solve the problem
Many construction companies and rental companies report the same problem: modern Euro 6 gensets (or Stage V generators) fail much more often than older models. Especially when they only run at 10-25% of their power all day.
But why does this happen? And more importantly, what does it mean for reliability on the construction site? In this blog, we clearly explain what goes wrong technically and what the consequences are.

Why modern gensets are poor at handling low loads

Euro 6 and Stage V gensets are designed to run cleaner, but that only works if the engine runs regularly high burdened becomes. On the construction site, this is almost never the case: machines are idle, consumption changes, there is peak and off-peak load.
As a result, many generators run most of the time on only 10-25% of their capacity. That is exactly where it goes wrong.

The real problem: too low temperature and poor combustion

When a diesel engine runs underload, the combustion does not get hot enough. This causes a chain reaction:

• Soot deposits and “wet stacking”
  - Unburned fuel and soot accumulate in the exhaust and engine.
  - The engine works inefficiently and pollutes internally much faster.
• Clogging of the DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter)
  - The DPF wants to clean itself (regeneration), but this requires high temperature.
  - At low load, this does not happen → filter clogged → malfunction → failure.
• AdBlue/SCR problems
  - The aftertreatment system functions poorly at low exhaust gas temperatures.
  - Result: fault codes, emergency running or an engine that won't start at all.
• 4. Oil dilution
  - Poor combustion causes unburned diesel to enter the engine oil.

This reduces lubrication and accelerates wear.

Why this leads to lower reliability? Construction companies notice it immediately: Euro 6 units that are not properly loaded often achieve not even the end of the project without failures. Practice shows this:

• Many more failures
• Higher maintenance costs
• Regular downtime at critical times
• Thousands of euros a year from DPF and SCR problems
• Additional costs due to fuel transport
• Unpredictable performance at peak load

For contractors and rental companies, this is a big risk. Reliability = working through. A Battery Trailer has no internal combustion engine, and therefore no:

Why a Battery Trailer does not have this problem

• DPF
• SCR
• AdBlue
• Coolant
• Oil
• Minimum load
• Regeneration processes

The system provides power only when there is demand. No more. Not less. As a result:

• No soot
• No engine problems
• No underloading
• No silent downtime
• No restart problems
• No emissions
• No sound

And: always reliable, both at low consumption and short-term high peaks.

Conclusion: traditional gensets no longer belong on modern construction sites

Modern emissions requirements bring up problems that diesel technology simply cannot handle properly. With the growing pressure on emission-free construction, these problems are only getting worse.

A Battery Trailer:

• operates quietly and emission-free
• runs efficiently at every level of consumption
• prevents downtime
• requires hardly any maintenance
• delivers reliable power, exactly when it is needed

This makes it a logical and future-proof alternative to gensets that are broken by low loads.

Want to know more? Download the brochure or request a demo
Want to know which model suits your construction site, infrastructure project or rental fleet?
Check out our products on www.batterytrailer.eu Or contact Sjoerd-Jan Reinders:
06 4509 4321 | sjoerd-jan@batterytrailer.eu