Böcker AK 48e voted Product of the Year 2026 by readers

Electric crane work on a diesel chassis

The AK 48e splits the job between two power sources. The carrier vehicle keeps a conventional combustion engine for the road run to site, while all crane functions — slewing, telescoping and hoisting — are driven electrically from a 30 kWh battery. That arrangement avoids the range and payload penalties of a fully electric truck while still allowing the crane itself to work without engine noise or exhaust at the working position, which matters on inner-city roofing jobs and in built-up residential streets.

Böcker rates the machine for a full working day, or more than eight hours of average duty, without a mains connection. High-efficiency electric motors, an electric winch and energy recovery when lowering a load are what stretch the battery that far. Recharging is possible from a 230 V household socket or a 400 V supply, with wallbox charging to follow.

What the vote rewarded

Readers’ polls of this kind are not a technical test, but they do indicate which machines contractors regard as answering a real problem. In the AK 48e’s case that problem is straightforward: roofing and facade contractors increasingly work on sites where noise limits, emission zones or simple neighbour relations make a diesel-driven crane awkward, yet they cannot accept a drop in lifting performance to get around it.

On paper the electric version does not concede much. Payload runs to 3 t, and to 6 t with the optional configuration, while extension lengths reach 49 m, or 52 m optionally. Those are figures comparable with Böcker’s combustion-engined models in the same class, which is the point the manufacturer has been making since the electric line was introduced.

The comparison the manufacturer draws is with its own combustion-engined machines rather than with rival electric cranes, and that is a fair reflection of where the market sits: for most roofing and cladding contractors the decision is still whether to give up a diesel crane, not which battery crane to choose. Charging practice is the other half of the argument. A 230 V socket is available on virtually every site and in every yard, so an overnight charge is realistic without any investment in infrastructure; a 400 V supply shortens the turnaround where one is present.

Böcker thanked the readers who voted for the crane and said the result confirmed that the machine matches what modern sites now require.

Source: Böcker — Photos: Böcker