Construction EVs estimated at NZ$210.7 billion industry by 2044

IDTechEx’s report Electric Vehicles in Construction: Technologies, Players, Forecasts analyses the fast-growing electric construction machine industry.

More than 200 construction machines from global OEMs have been studied to reveal trends in machine performance, battery sizing, charging, pricing, and more.  

The electric construction machine industry is still in its very early stages, says IDTechEx, but OEMs are already moving quickly to expand their offerings of electric products while customers have shown a willingness to adopt the technology.

Electric machines can offer zero-emission operation at the point of use, along with health, safety, and operational benefits as well as improved total costs of ownership (TCO).

The electrification of the electric construction machine industry will also be driven by continued development of battery technology and similar electrification in other heavy-duty and off-highway markets, says IDTechEx’s report which predicts the electric construction machine industry will grow to be worth NZ$201.7 billion (US$126 billion) in 2044, representing a 20-year CAGR of 21%.

 It expects government policy and incentives will help drive uptake in the short-term.

Electric machines can save significant amounts on operating costs by using cheaper electricity instead of diesel, and through lower maintenance requirements and downtime, says IDTechEx.

 Where electric machines suffer is in their high upfront costs, expected to drop as electric machine technology matures, it says.

“Construction machines are likely to be among the last vehicle categories to see emissions regulations, as they are a relatively small contributor of greenhouse gas emissions compared to road vehicles.

“However, a desire to improve air quality in cities has seen governments impose some regulation on construction sites, which will encourage firms to investigate zero-emission solutions.”

This IDTechEx report analyses a wide variety of machine types from all major construction OEMs – including Caterpillar, Komatsu, XCMG, and Volvo- to find that electric machines can already largely match the expectations of diesel machines on runtime, power delivery, digging force, and more.

 “As the most developed electric machine segment, mini-excavators show off this trend well,” says IDTechEx, adding nearly all are able to do four hours of operation on a single charge, with many closer to eight hours.

It says batteries for larger machines are often in the 200-500kWh range and are just entering maturity, pointing out that China has LFP batteries of up to about 700kWh.