I recently had the pleasure to attend Bauma 2025, the premier global trade fair for construction machinery. Overall the conference underscored the industry's continued pushes towards a sustainable future. With "Climate Neutrality" and "Sustainable Construction" as central themes, the event showcased a shift towards cleaner technologies, with battery-electric and hydrogen-powered machinery taking center stage.
Major manufacturers like Volvo CE, Hitachi, Hyundai, Liebherr, and Moog Construction-owned ZQuip presented their respective advancements in both electric and hydrogen power, demonstrating the start of the commitment to reducing the environmental impact of construction.
While Bauma showcased a significant push towards clean technologies in the construction sector, the industry still lags behind others, such as automotive and trucking, in the widespread adoption of electrification and alternative fuels. The automotive industry, for instance, has seen electric vehicles reach nearly 12% of passenger vehicle sales in the US in 2023, with projections indicating over 30% by 2030. Similarly, major trucking fleets are committing to transitioning a significant portion of their new heavy-duty truck purchases to zero-emission vehicles by 2030.
To put the construction industry’s electrification into perspective: At Volvo, a global leader in construction equipment sales, just over 2,000 of its 56,000 construction equipment sales in 2024 were electric, accounting for just around 3.5%.
Despite this gap, Bauma was proof that there’s significant progress being made towards a cleaner construction industry.
Electric Construction Innovations
A majority of the innovations in electric construction vehicles were targeted towards two major use cases, urban construction and mining.
Volvo CE featured an exclusive all-electric lineup, including excavators with improved operational capacity, as well as the unveiling of the world's first battery-electric haulers in their size class, the A30 Electric and A40 Electric. They also presented electric wheel loaders like the L120 Electric and the upgraded L25 Electric, and the EW240 Electric Material Handler, showcasing a broad range of electric solutions.
Hitachi Construction Machinery, in collaboration with KTEG and Dimaag AI, presented a range of nine zero-emission electric excavators, including a mini-excavator with a swappable battery, multiple small excavators, and an autonomous electric excavator. Komatsu introduced three new electric mini excavators specifically tailored for the European market. Kobelco Construction Machinery showcased a battery-powered electric excavator for its global debut and a 2-ton model for its European premiere, highlighting their suitability for urban environments. XCMG launched a 25-ton electric crawler excavator with a substantial battery and battery swap technology. Takeuchi presented two new electric excavator prototypes. Bobcat highlighted its existing electric mini excavators for environmentally sensitive applications.
Beyond excavators, Bobcat presented the world's first all-electric skid-steer loader. Liebherr showcased the autonomous battery-electric Mining Truck and Wheel Loader. SANY Group unveiled the first 5-ton all-electric roller and an electric telescopic forklift for Europe. Hyundai CE introduced an electric material handler. Kubota presented a battery power retrofit kit for its mini excavators.
Hydrogen Power Advancements
In addition to the widespread presence of electric power, Bauma 2025 highlighted the growing importance of hydrogen power as a zero-emission alternative, particularly for heavier machinery.
Hyundai CE showcased a pre-production Hydrogen Wheeled Excavator with a fuel cell system, long runtime, and quick refueling. Hitachi Construction Machinery presented a 30-tonne concept excavator with a hydrogen engine. Yanmar Power Technology displayed a concept industrial hydrogen engine and a hydrogen-powered generator. JCB Powertrain showcased its working hydrogen combustion engine already powering several machine types and having secured regulatory approvals for commercial use in Europe. Liebherr Components announced plans for series production of its hydrogen combustion engines in 2025.
To address the lack of current infrastructure for hydrogen power, Hyundai introduced a low-pressure “hydrogen distribution vehicle," and JCB is developing a mobile hydrogen fuel trailer for on-site refueling.
Limitations with the Solutions Demonstrated
Despite the robust number of solutions, there are still major challenges facing adoption, including:
- Run time: Most equipment (except for the smallest) won’t hold enough charge in their batteries to run a full work day.
- Charge time: Even with deployable and mobile charging, it still takes the machinery out of use for a significant amount of time
- Size: Solutions that can run most of a day, or have swappable batteries, are typically the smallest equipment, which have limited use cases on large job sites. The largest solutions demonstrated were most restricted in either run time or charge time
- Hydrogen production: There is still no scalable production of clean hydrogen, let alone infrastructure for storage and distribution at scale
ZQuip: A Unique Solution for Unlimited Runtime - Swapable and Hybrid
Amidst the buzz of electrification at Bauma 2025, ZQuip presented a truly unique and potentially game-changing solution to the challenge of powering construction equipment: swappable energy modules. This technology, showcased on the CASE CX210ZQ tracked excavator and the CASE WX155ZQ wheeled excavator, stands out as the most innovative approach to ensuring continuous operation on job sites. These were sizable machines, able to have multiple power modules, increasing the run time. And when they run low the batteries could be swapped.
ZQuip's system allows for battery switches in less than 5 minutes, effectively providing unlimited runtime, a stark contrast to the long charging times required by many other electric solutions.
The swap doesn’t need to be for another battery - it could be for a diesel generator that creates a hybrid system with an indefinite run-time.
What makes ZQuip particularly compelling is its cross-brand compatibility; the modular conversion kit can be installed on virtually any make or model of diesel-hydraulic construction vehicle, addressing a key limitation of other electrification efforts that are often specific to a single manufacturer. This means that a construction site with a variety of machines from different brands could utilize a standardized ZQuip battery system, streamlining operations and logistics. ZQuip demonstrated their cross brand technology on a Caterpillar crawler excavator at the Moog Construction booth.
ZQuip's technology offers a degree of future-proofing that other solutions may lack. While currently focused on swappable batteries, the modular design can also accommodate other energy sources like diesel generators or hydrogen fuel cells, providing flexibility as battery technology evolves, access to power at a site changes, or as alternative fuels become more readily available. This adaptability positions ZQuip as a forward-thinking solution that can evolve with the changing landscape of clean energy in the construction industry. Case Construction Equipment has recognized the potential of this technology and is actively working with ZQuip, with their dealer Schmidt Bouwmachines already taking orders in the Netherlands.
Construction’s Clean-Tech Moment
Bauma 2025 clearly demonstrated the construction industry's strong movement towards clean technologies. While numerous manufacturers showcased impressive advancements in battery-electric and hydrogen-powered machinery, ZQuip's cross-brand compatible, rapidly swappable energy module system, in collaboration with Case Construction Equipment, emerged as a particularly unique and promising solution for achieving truly continuous and versatile zero-emission operation on construction sites. The innovations presented at Bauma signal an accelerating transition towards a more sustainable future for the construction industry.