Summary. After more than three years, Bauma, one of the largest construction events in the world, reopened its doors for seven days in Munich Oct. 24. Power Systems Research (PSR) had a five-person team at the event, discussing trends with industry representatives, from new products and services to topics around the future evolution of sustainable technologies.
The show was smaller than the last time it was held, in 2019. Close to 3,200 exhibitors from 60 countries (2019: 3,684 exhibitors from 63 countries) participated and more than 495,000 visitors from over 200 countries (2019: 627,603 visitors from more than 200 countries) came to Munich for the event.
Bauma is the world’s leading trade fair for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines, construction vehicles and construction equipment. International visitors made up about 50% of the attendance. That’s a change from 2019 when about two-thirds of visitors came from Germany.
The top 10 exhibitor countries at Bauma were, in order, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, France, the U.S., Austria, Spain and China.
The next Bauma will be held in Munich April 7–13, 2025.
The show seemed to be very well received by stakeholders and industry players. One reoccurring topic during the exhibition was the importance of being back live, in person, at the show.
People were very interested in open discussions and knowledge sharing, compared to pre-Covid events. It seemed evident, to us and to many of the people we talked with, that people wanted to talk, to compare visions on the industry and understand what is happening, around the industry and in broader terms around fast changing geopolitical status.
Bauma 2022 was a great venue for OEMs and engine manufacturers to demonstrate the electrification that started slowly during the pandemic and now is speeding up. In 2022 we are able to see this migration from the most common power technologies (diesel, gasoline, gas) to greener technologies and alternate fuels, such as hybrids, electrics and hydrogen.
The PSR team visited many OEMs and component suppliers to identify the most important market trends, production locations, market shares, production and new models introduced.
Companies took this opportunity of Bauma to present their latest electric products and innovations. At this stage, many were still prototypes, but there was much equipment that is already in production and in the market.
Some OEMs at the show presented their most innovative alternate fuel solutions to their customers and dealers in order to get their first impressions, review feasibility and acceptance in the market, especially with electrics and hydrogen since the price and lead time at this stage is still very high.
Other OEMs are already selling their electric and hybrid solutions. Most manufacturer product portfolio strategies consider a mix of power solutions, with a trend to make the market switch to more environmentally friendly solutions. However, some experts think that diesel will continue to dominate as one of the most preferred technologies.
The main focus at and topics is on electric drives because, just like on the roads, there are more and more construction machines and vehicles in the construction sector that rely on electric motors.
Overall, it was noticeable at the show that most of the industry wants to see where the electrification journey is going. Electromobility is on everyone’s lips, the main discussion is about when the big transformation will take place.
When it comes to sales, the numbers are generally looking good across the board. Due to delivery bottlenecks caused by component manufacturers and suppliers, there are delivery problems in many cases. But on the whole, companies are satisfied with their figures.
Mergers & Acquisitions. Two acquisitions that we confirmed and that are already completely integrated to their businesses in the last months were CNH acquiring Eurocomach (2021) and Yanmar acquiring ELEO (2022). CNH Industrial’s Construction Equipment business acquisition is enabling them to have Eurocomach make their mini and midi excavators at their facilities and continue with its market participation in that segment.
In the case of Yanmar, and as part of their carbon-neutral electrification strategy, they acquired majority ownership of ELEO, a battery tech company based in the Netherlands.
Product Reports. We visited many stands during our time at Bauma and picked up lots of information on new products, both in production and in development. Here are 10 noteworthy new products we saw.
1. Putzmeister / Sany exhibited one of their iONTRON construction application 100% electric series truck (BSA 1005). It offers 6-7 years warranty of the battery. They expect to sell between 75-100 by next year. The trucks are equipped with a CATL battery (China Contemporary Amperex Technology https://www.catl.com/)
2. Komatsu exhibited their current product line and some electric and hybrid prototypes. They expect to start the production and sales of electric products in 2024. They confirmed they have manufacturing plants in Europe; in UK, Viena, Hannover and Duseldorff (this one is only dedicated to build the very large mining models, including PC4000).
3. Honda exhibited the eGX electric engine, which they had unveiled at the previous Bauma. It was very interesting to see the adoption rate of this electric engine for the smaller construction products had since last Bauma.
Honda is still very much in a test and data collection phase to really understand the possibilities offered by electric alternatives. They were also showing what they believe would be the next step in electrification with their power station prototype. This is best described as a rack with batteries.
The general idea is that people can go to these battery racks to exchange their depleted batteries for new fully charged ones. The rack would be recharging the freshly deposited batteries that would then be rented out by another user once charged. These would be found in common places such as gas stations. So far it has been estimated that electric engines are less than 5% of their total sales.
4. Liebherr exhibited their hydrogen engine prototype. The expected release date of this engine is in 2026. They also showed a hydrogen converter module which they plan to introduce in 2025. They also showed their fuel cell PEM prototype, 55kw They said their current product strategy to the market considers a mix of different power solutions. We talked with representatives about how the engine differs from a standard diesel engine. The main point of difference was how to handle the corrosive effects of hydogen. Liebherr replaced the cylinder head block and redesigned the injection units (to look like an adjusted common rail diesel) but in stainless steel.
5. Kohler announced its new strategy from a power producer to an energy supplier. A strategy that may even replace ICE technology in some applications. Mentioned that they are working on their hydrogen solutions to be introduced in 2023. Also a hybrid tech module. They will continue offering gas, diesel, hybrid and hydrogen solutions to the market and stated that they will continue investing on diversified energy solutions to reduce environmental impact.
6. Yanmar introduced their carbon-neutral electrification strategy. From their press release: “Yanmar will establish itself as the all-in-one systems integrator for smart electrified power solutions tailored to the application specific needs of individual OEMs. In its capacity as a systems integrator,
Yanmar will implement system engineering, design and manufacturing of e-powertrains, while also providing control development, system evaluation, procurement, manufacturing and quality assurance.” Yanmar also exhibited ELEO batteries, in which they acquired major ownership early this year.
7. Himoínsa presented their 45/60 battery power generator with solar energy, which was introduced in 2021. The batteries can be charged through an electric source; however the main source of power is the use of solar panels. Himoinsa sells the gen-set with no solar panels, customers need to invest on that part, and the gen-set has the product designed to be connected to solar panels. Today, there are already 100 units in the market, and they expect to sell about 450 units by 2023.
8. Perkins & Caterpillar. Perkins and Caterpillar stands were very traditional in their approach, with diesel engines predominantly featured. There were however their battery packs on display as mock ups – these were in 300 volt and 600-volt formats. The battery range uses lithium-ion chemistry and features a modular design to optimize performance and packaging. They have also been designed with sustainability in mind and are designed to be reused or recycled at the end of their life.
9. MTU / Rolls Royce. The MTU/Rolls Royce stand was very futuristic and clean – focus was on fuel cells and Battery power. MTU‘s Electric loader concept showing electric motors and battery pack lit in blue (no specs yet available). On display (left and above) was their 2nd generation fuel cell which is only suitable for stationary applications. Gen 3 is due to be released soon and details will be forwarded to me. Gen 3 is suitable for stationary and mobile applications.
10. Kreisel is a company that makes battery packs and chargers – they had their KPB63 battery pack on display with 63kwh, using Lithium–ion chemistry. The battery packs are module and can be stacked up together. PSR
Emiliano Marzoli is Manager-European Operations, for Power Systems Research
Christopher Bamforth is European Market Analyst, for Power Systems Research
Dalibor Sablic is Senior Business Development Manager – Europe, for Power Systems Research
Lorena Violante is Senior Market Research Consultant, for Power Systems Research
Guy Youngs is Forecast and Technology Adoption Lead, for Power Systems Research
