PLANT and tool specialist WHC Hire Services has become the first company in the UK to offer customers an electric Kubota mini-excavator using the firm’s Requip Electric Retrofit conversion technology.
The machine, built with dealer Lister Wilder, will be offered to customers from the start of 2026.
WHC Hire Services, based in Tewkesbury with depots in Worcester and Chipping Norton, was one of the first to try a full electric mini-excavator in 2019 and currently runs an electric van in its service fleet.
The business admits that an electric mini-excavator is not going to suit every application. The high initial purchase cost and therefore hire rate of many options make a move to zero emissions a difficult juggling act. Kubota’s Electric Retrofit has been designed to make that transition to battery power more cost effective.
The process requires an existing diesel machine – in the case of WHC one of its two-year-old Kubota KX019-4 models. The Kubota dealer, in this case Lister Wilder, removes the diesel engine and its ancillaries, before installing an 18kW lithium-ion battery pack and an electric motor, offering similar power to the diesel engine.
The conversion includes an on-board battery charger, with a conventional Type 2 connector in the side panel. This allows customers to connect to an EV charger, or to use a variety of electrical inputs, from a 240V domestic supply, through to three-phase on-site power. The battery delivers around 5-6 hours of continuous run time and can be recharged overnight, or in a matter of hours, depending on electrical supply.
The machine can be offered to customers as a battery electric mini, but when the time comes to update the fleet, it can either be sold as an electric model, or the battery can be removed and reused on another excavator, while the diesel engine is reinstalled and the machine marketed as a conventional diesel.
“The real beauty of the machine versus the competition though, is the weight,” said WHC MD James Clutterbuck. “We have designed and built a trailer that can carry the electric machine, with buckets and a breaker, that is still within the permitted towing weight.”
At just 1,860kg, the electric conversion is close to the mass of the standard diesel model. WHC designed its own patented trailer, built by Ifor Williams, that carries a mini-excavator, breaker, and buckets without any requirement for multiple straps or chains to tie the machine down.
With the Kubota Electric Retrofit, WHC Hire Services has taken another step towards a net zero future. “We’re bringing a new option to the customer,” added Mr Clutterbuck. “We’ve been doing a lot of work on sustainability and carbon reduction and I’d like to think that we can get a wider audience for it with this machine conversion.”
