In the distance, around the corner of a large cattle shed, nothing but a soft whining noise, somewhat reminiscent of a milk float of old, signals the approach of a machine that could become a more familiar sight on livestock farms.

As The Scottish Farmer prepared to get behind the wheel of JCB’s first all-electric telescopic handler, the machine came to a stop and fell even more silent. No raucous diesel motor settling into a steady idle, no heat shimmer from a hot exhaust pipe ... just silence.

Climbing aboard and settling into the heated air suspension seat reveals no obvious differences between the Loadall 525-60E – 2.5 tonne maximum lift capacity and 2 tonnes to 6m – and its diesel-fuelled counterpart.

The heated front, side and rear glass is designed to clear any misting or icy frost and there’s good all-round visibility, especially to the right rear three-quarter thanks to the low boom pivot.

To the right of the operator is an ‘ignition’ key in its usual place – there’s also a servo joystick with buttons, proportional-response roller switches and a forward-neutral-reverse trigger switch; plus a big brake pedal on the left and an accelerator pedal of similar scale to the right.

Turn the key and – well, nothing happens apart from the digital instrument display lighting up to tell the operator the transmission is in neutral and how much ‘fuel’ remains available. Pull the joystick back, however, and with a whirr, a 22kW electric motor in the tail sets the machine’s 80-litre/min main pump into motion, drawing oil from a rear-mounted tank – it’s up front on the diesel version – and pushing it into the lift cylinder on the underside of the boom.

The boom is said to go up at much the same pace as on the diesel-engined model but without the noise of pistons being hammered by rapid-fire explosions of atomised diesel oil.

It lowers even faster thanks to a hydraulics set-up that allows oil to evacuate the lift cylinder rapidly, thereby using the mass of the telescopic structure to get into a digging position quickly but still under control.

With the boom in place, all is silent once more, until the joystick is pivoted to right or left to crowd or dump the muck fork, or with the third-service button pressed, to open or close the grab.

So far, so good.

Clicking the trigger selector switch on the underside of the joystick engages forwards but there is no motion once the electrically-operated drum parking brake has been released until the accelerator pedal is pressed, which results in a more muted whine from a 17kW electric drive motor mounted within the guts of the machine. It’s connected to a dropbox that sends drive via propeller shafts to each axle for full-time four-wheel drive.

Press the ‘throttle’ pedal a bit more and – logically enough – the Loadall speeds up and the noise gets a little louder as the oily bits start to contribute. Ease off the pedal and it slows down and if doing so from a high enough speed, or down a slope, the regenerative electrics deliver a modicum of charge back into the battery.

The oblong-shaped battery pack itself sits unobtrusively in the pod between the right-hand wheels where a 74hp JCB by Kohler diesel engine normally resides, along with its cooling pack and other paraphernalia. While the conventional components fill every nook and cranny of the diesel model’s engine bay, the electric installation is relatively sparse.

So much so, in fact, that operators could stow webbing straps and even a sizeable plastic toolbox in there – but JCB advises against anything loose that could dent the top of the battery casing and become tangled in the high voltage system’s cables.

The battery is a 96v lithium-ion unit of 24kWh capacity that weighs around 360kg, contributing to an overall weight – and weight distribution – similar to that of the regular 525-60 at 5200kg.

Four large hoist rings emphasise that the battery can be lifted out if it proves faulty or has reached the end of its service life.

The latter scenario is a long way off for first users as JCB reckons the battery is good for 5000 full charge and discharge cycles, which the company calculates is equivalent to 10 years’ typical usage, before its storage capacity drops below 80% of the original value.

Ahead of the battery in the ‘engine bay’ is a conventional 12v battery providing power for the lights, windscreen wipers, heater, and so on, while to the rear is a 3kW on-board charging unit. This will refill the battery’s energy store from zero to 100% in eight hours via a 16-amp cable drawing electricity from a standard single-phase 240v supply, or five hours for a 25% to 80% charge top-up.

If faster charging is needed to cope with a high workload, then JCB’s 18kW Universal Charger installed in a workshop or another convenient location would provide the same top-up in just an hour, and would fully charge an empty battery in just over an hour and a half. The 27kW Supercharge version trims even more time off those periods – to 35 minutes and an hour, respectively.

But a typical dairy or other livestock farm routine should surely cope with the on-board charger performance, especially bearing in mind that with no idling losses, the rate of energy consumption should be less than with diesel.

In fact, analysis of JCB LiveLink telematics data from diesel Loadall 525-60 handlers working around world suggested that 90% of users would not have to re-charge during the day if they switched to the electric version.

If prolonged working in a remote location is required, JCB Power Products can supply a portable lithium-ion power pack of 23kWh, or 46kWh capacity to provide 8kW of continuous power at 230v single-phase output for around £25,000.

Back behind the wheel, the ‘leccy Loadall’ is steered into a cattle shed where it demonstrates plenty of shove to get the fork deep into the strawy muck – enough, in fact, to get some momentary wheelslip.

A brief pause while the grab is closed means the powertrain falls silent once more while the hydraulics package continues to whine; then it’s ‘click’ into reverse, a touch of accelerator and back we go, with a sound track that’s easy on the ear and no diesel fumes drifting towards the shed roof.

Once outside, another trigger click without stopping produces a smooth transition from reverse to forwards, and pulling back the joystick gets the boom rising without hesitation.

At this point, it’s hard to resist the temptation to push the ‘throttle’ pedal to the floor and build revs to get the hydraulics working at peak performance; not because they are slow but because that’s what we’re used to doing with diesel models.

Although on this example, there is a perceptible delay after thumbing the roller switch to extend the telescopic section – enough, in fact, to make the unaccustomed operator wonder whether he’s using the right control. Overall, though, the electric power system does the job consistently and efficiently.

Buying an electric telehandler takes a bit faith in the concept, its performance and credentials, not least because with a list price just over £84,400 it inevitably commands a significant premium over the £62,000 diesel version.

Energy costs calculated at less than £4/day (24kWh x 15.5p) and minimal servicing requirement help in making the long-term justification for ‘going green’, not least on farms generating their own power.