Alternative power: experts discuss customer needs and challenges
17 January 2025
At the 2024 AEM Annual Conference last November, there was a roundtable discussion focused on the current and future state of alternative power sources in the equipment industry.
“We’re going to talk about battery electric,” said moderator Doug Griffin, a partner in Atlanta, Ga.-based consulting firm The Context Network. “We’re going to talk about hydrogen. We’re going to talk about hybrids. We’re going to talk about whatever flows in the conversation when it comes to alternative energy sources.”
Current Customer Alignment
Noting that diesel was not by any means being relegated to the dustbin, Griffin kicked off the conversation by asking panelists how alternative power sources were aligning with customer needs.

Chris LaFleur, managing director of ZQuip, a subsidiary of Moog Construction based in Buffalo, N.Y., that makes modular electric power solutions, said his answer meant differentiating between those being forced to adopt alternative power and those choosing to do so.
“If you ignore the ones who are told to do it, it really all comes down to what can I get done by going with alternative fuels and alternative sources of energy that I can’t do if I didn’t,” he said.
As an example, LaFleur said that alternative energy sources allow end users to operate machines in unique ways as well as in new environments.
“Those [applications] are working around hospitals, working indoors, working underground,” he explained. “So, we see alternative fuels as a way to really push the boundary of how much work you can get done in a normal day that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to get done.”
Kelly Burgess, powertrain ecosystem manager for CNH, agreed.
“When we are looking at our electrified construction products, we can operate them indoors,” he said. “We’ve had them in some major retail outlets operating while customers have been in the store. And there are a lot of fringe benefits that are just there, with a quiet and no-emissions powertrain that just makes sense for a number of applications that our customers encounter.”
Alternative Energy Applications
Burgess and LaFleur’s remarks highlighted the fact that decarbonization, particularly electrification, was not exclusively about reducing emissions. Griffin asked Burgess to explain further.

“Running the vehicles in a closed environment — that’s a big one,” Burgess said. He added that one working environment for which electrification is particularly well suited is zoos, as the equipment doesn’t disturb the animals.
“We have our other alternative fuel products too, like our methane tractor that was delivered to the first retail customer in North America earlier this week,” Burgess said. “He wanted it because his neighbor is producing biomethane, and it’s not going to be a big investment for him to be able to take and use that biomethane to operate his tractor.”
Another customer who is currently using a diesel-powered tractor expressed interest in the methane tractor because of issues unique to the application.
“They use a fairly low RPM,” Burgess said. “They clear a horse track with it. It causes a lot of reliability issues with the emission system. So, they’re interested in our methane tractor because it has a very simple automotive-based three-way catalyst that’s very reliable.”
Voice of the Customer
Linda Hasenfratz, CEO of manufacturing company Linamar Corporation of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, said that listening to customers about electrification could help OEMs avoid some of the automobile industry’s pitfalls.
“I feel like, in many ways, it was the tail wagging the dog,” she said. “Government policy was really trying to influence what was happening in these industries instead of listening to consumers. There were a lot of policies put in place. Companies scrambled to put strategies in place — invested billions in new electrified vehicle platforms that just cost too much.”
Hasenfratz explained that not only is there a cost premium associated with electric vehicles but that they are more expensive to operate on the highway than in the city. This has caused customers to avoid them.
“I think that if we take that lesson in the off-road arena, we should think more about what’s our customer is looking for,” she said.
Hasenfratz added that cost will continue to be a consideration, and OEMs must rely upon customers to determine whether the benefits will ultimately outweigh those additional costs for them.
“They [customers] want to be able to do whatever they’re doing for less money, better quality, better efficiency, and they want it to cost less,” she said. “So we have to figure that out. And if we don’t have that solution, it’s just not going to sell, because that’s exactly what we’re seeing in the automotive industry right now.”
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