Among the motley variations and types of heavy machines, the compact excavator market has been observed to be among the fastest growing sphere within the scope of the heavy machine marketplace. It is due to this profound growth attributed to rising demand that manufacturers are intensely competing with each other to gain a bigger bite of the market share.
A report released by Off-Highway Research, global compact excavator sales surpassed the 300,000-unit benchmark in 2020, which was the highest ever recoded and recent market trends indicate that this number will double by 2030. The increase in demand for the compact excavator category is directly attributed to demand dynamics that changed.
Traditionally, most demand stemmed from developed nations such as Europe, Japan and Korea and within the last decade demand from developing nations such as the Middle East and Asia (including China and India) has been increasing exponentially.
Market analysis indicate that demand for compact excavators has been gradually increasing to the point that currently China takes the top spot as the biggest market for compact excavators in the world. Although China is known to possess a huge labour market compared to other nations, much of the labour has been redirected to factories and compact excavators have become a critical aspect of the construction industry in China as compensation for the labour taken away from the industry by the manufacturing industry.
The popularity of compact excavators is owed to the ease of use of these machines that match the capabilities of their standard sized cousins in terms of versatility and power. Other factors include the hydraulic coupling link feature that most compact excavators are fitted with along with other technologies such as load sensors and GPS assisted grading tech.
Most construction equipment companies these days even offer electric powered compact excavators for hire simply because these machines are easily chargeable and are deemed as perfect solutions for projects in urban areas or city centres where noise and emissions pollution compliance are strictly enforced.
The electric compact excavator market according to various market analyses is poised to grow significantly which is notable with traditionally rival manufacturers establishing partnerships to gain market share. The collaboration between Honda and Komatsu for instance which saw the PC01 excavator being launched into the market is an example of how intense competition has become within this market sphere which is the reason behind the prices of compact excavators remaining stable over the last few years.
Volvo, JCB, and Kubota are among the market leaders that are also pursuing market share in the compact excavator segment through mergers and exclusive technology purchases. The EC15 and 27 by Volvo, JCB’s 19C, and the L28 are just some of the models that were released into the market and were seen to gain traction almost instantly.
It is expected that within the next decade all construction equipment rental companies will only be offering electric compact excavators for hire and drop fossil fuel models completely.
