Electric Powered Vehicles

In this article, we'll explore 10 trends that are reshaping the heavy equipment landscape going into 2024 to help you stay ahead of the curve.

PACCAR and Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (Toyota) have announced an expansion of their joint efforts to develop and manufacture zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell (FCEV) trucks under the Kenworth and Peterbilt brands.

Vermeer has entered into a distribution agreement with Conmeq Construction Equipment & Machinery B.V., to supply Conmeq-branded electric mini skid steer loaders to be sold, serviced and supported through Vermeer industrial dealers in Europe.

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) and XL, a leader in fleet electrification solutions for commercial and municipal fleets that has worked with many Fortune 500 companies to make the change to electrification, recently announced that PSE has finished outfitting forty new vehicles with hybrid conversion technology. This change will serve to reduce each van’s carbon footprint, support the change from petroleum to XL hybrid gas/electric systems, and reduce CO2 emissions by 1.3 million pounds annually. PSE also showcased one of these new hybrid vans at the Green Transportation Summit and Expo on April 17-19th in order to showcase how easy it is for companies to convert fleet vehicles to cleaner systems, in turn, saving costs.

This month Tesla revealed the world’s first-ever electric semi truck in a direct challenge to diesel semi trucks everywhere. While addressing an excited crowd at a Tesla facility in Hawthorne, California, CEO Elon Musk promised to revolutionize the hauling industry with a better, cleaner design – along with many other large claims. Companies like Walmart and the Canadian grocery chain Loblaws have already shown interest by placing small test fleet orders, but will Tesla’s energy-efficient semis really be able to outperform diesel semi trucks upon its promised 2019 release date?

AGCO and Fendt have launched the Fendt e100 Vario, a practical, all-electric compact tractor with 67 HP (50 kW) power output, which can operate for up to 5 hours under actual operating conditions. The energy source is a 650 V high-capacity lithium-ion battery with a capacity of around 100 kWh. The battery is charged either with 400 V and up to 22 kW via a standard CEE outdoor socket, or by a supercharging option with direct voltage. With a standard CCS type 2 plug, the battery can be recharged up to 80% in just 40 minutes. In addition, energy can be recovered thanks to the use of an electric motor.

Hyster Company has announced they are currently testing high capacity lift trucks with electric motors. In the near future, ports and heavy industry will be able to electrify their fleets of Big Truck lifting equipment, producing zero emissions while achieving comparable full shift performance.