The great advantage of wheeled excavators is their mobility and high travel speed, which can be 35 km/h or more. This is helpful in getting around large sites quickly and driving between different sites on public roads, without the extra cost and inconvenience of loading the excavator onto a trailer. This of course only applies in countries where it is legal to drive wheeled excavators on public roads. This speed and agility, of course, comes with higher ground pressures than a crawler track, meaning wheeled excavators lack the off-road capabilities of crawler machines. In Europe, as in the rest of the world, wheeled excavators are a niche product. According to specialist research company, Off-Highway Research, the market in Europe stood at a little over 10,000 machines per year by the end of the 2010s. Of course, that number fell in 2020, but there was a good rebound in 2021, and sales look set to regain their former levels.
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