Launch of electric construction equipment accelerates in 2022

The number of electric construction equipment products on the market is increasing steadily with almost half of 2022 launches being electric and as many as 140 non-combustion machines introduced in the past 14 months, according to an analysis by KHL Group.

In 2022 so far, 860 machines have been updated or added to the online equipment sourcing guides maintained by KHL, around 75 of which are entirely new products. Of these, 36 are electrically powered.

The electric SV17e mini excavator from Yanmar. (Photo: Yanmar)

The analysis comes from the four online databases produced by KHL: Construction Sourcing Guide, D&RI Buyers Guide, Access Buyers Guide and World Crane Guide. These cover earthmoving equipment, roadbuilding, compaction, cranes, demolition and aerial platforms.

Aerial platforms make up a sizeable proportion of the new electric products – many scissor lifts and smaller booms have historically been battery powered – but there have been electric introductions throughout the product categories.

An analysis of launches over the past 14 months suggests that, overall, between 5% and 6% of new machines (excluding aerial platforms) are electric.

Earthmoving category
In earthmoving, the categories with the highest proportion of electric models are tracked excavators, wheeled loaders (including compact models) and tracked loaders, followed by site dumpers and backhoe loaders.

The shift to electric is clear also in roadbuilding equipment, where more than 20% of new single and tandem rollers were powered by batteries. A fifth of new mobile crushers were also electric.

In the cranes sector, the products most likely to be electrified were crawler and industrial cranes.

More than 32,500 products are contained in the four online directories. The four directories are constantly being updated and expanded. See details and links below:

Yellowbook The Yellow Book is now available online as a fully searchable and free-to-use directory of a wide selection of construction equipment.

World Crane Guide The most comprehensive crane reference guide in the world. KHL’s World Crane Guide is produced by International Cranes and Specialized Transport from data supplied by crane manufacturers and is the definitive reference source for equipment buyers in the crane and lifting industry.

Access Buyers Guide The Access Buyers’ Guide is now online as a fully searchable and free-to-use directory of access equipment.

Demolition & Recycling International Buyers Guide For more details about this and other demolition and recycling equipment go to the new D&Ri Buyers Guide website.