Fuel cost is a great incentive of course but other advantages include a lot less noise and pollution; which is great for indoor operation. Also, these things only use power when you use them (as opposed to idling and slurping lots of diesel).
I could see batteries get common for a lot of equipment that is currently diesel powered, in the agricultural, construction, and other sectors. If all you need is a lot of torque/power, electric & hydrolic can do the job.
it is also upgradeable - i.e. an improvement in efficiency for a motor of the same format, or improvements of the battery in the same format can both be "drop in" upgrades. Not necessarily trivial, but much easier than with ICEs.
With all the electronics driving these machines, I don't think they are simpler. There are certainly less moving parts, but if something fails in an electric version you will only be able to debug down to the modular level, which could be VERY expensive to replace. Also, if the manufacture goes bust, you may never be able to get a replacement module so the vehicle is now worthless.
I always thought they should be first. They are order of magnitude more utilised than passenger cars (at least 30% of time compared to 5% or so). They produce tons of noise and are more complex than electric.
It just hasn’t been cost effective until now. Tesla saw this and started with a very expensive roadster and just recently ended up with more affordable options like the Model 3.
Industrial equipment is either making money or spending it. I look forward to the cost optimization that will come with battery powered heavy machinery.
Thinking aloud: how can the electrical grid keep up? Surely we need to invest in this area, too.
Not that surprising actually, the static models (ie a crane in a scrapyard) have been electric for a long time.
If anything, the biggest challenge / last bastion will be for the highly mobile operations, bringing all the needed infrastructure to power them, which isn't as much as problem with diesel.
Maybe we'll see trucks mounted with large arrays of batteries to deploy on the field.
ironically enough, there are more and more electric drilling rigs now, especially when drilling in-fill wells in established fields or near/in cities. they don't use battery power though, just temporary power lines and a mobile transformer skid.
Worked at an open pit mine in the 90's...electric shovels. Cat had just come out with a diesel one when I was leaving. If you go huge electric is the only thing that will power it and the danger of fire from secondary forces like friction are greatly reduced. Friction provides the heat and you don't want a fuel source close.
Fuel cost is a great incentive of course but other advantages include a lot less noise and pollution; which is great for indoor operation. Also, these things only use power when you use them (as opposed to idling and slurping lots of diesel).
I could see batteries get common for a lot of equipment that is currently diesel powered, in the agricultural, construction, and other sectors. If all you need is a lot of torque/power, electric & hydrolic can do the job.