WHC Hire Services is the first company in the UK to offer customers an electric Kubota mini excavator, using the latter's 'Requip Electric Retrofit' conversion tech.

The machine, built with local dealer Lister Wilder, will be offered to customers from the start of 2026, as the business looks to gauge interest from end-users on site.

WHC, with depots in Worcester and Chipping Norton, is no stranger to electrification and carbon reduction. The firm was one of the first to try a full electric mini excavator in 2019 and it currently runs an electric van in its service fleet. The company has made a sustainability promise to help its customers through the process of carbon reduction.

WHC admits that an electric mini excavator is not going to suit every application - the high initial purchase cost and 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, Lister Wilder, removes the diesel engine and its ancillaries, before installing an 18kW lithium-ion battery pack and an electric motor, which drives the machine’s hydraulic pump, allowing the KX019-4e to work with all of the standard machine’s attachments and tools.

The conversion includes an on-board battery charger, with a Type 2 connector in the side panel. This allows customers to connect to an EV charger - or to use a variety of electrical inputs. The battery delivers 5-6 hours of continuous run time and it 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 excavator, 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. This reduces the cost of the electric machine, compared to a battery-only model, allowing WHC to offer the KX019-4e at a hire rate that is far closer to a diesel model.

“The real beauty of the machine versus the competition though, is the weight,” says WHC Managing Director 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 1,860kg, the electric conversion is closer to the mass of the standard diesel model. WHC has designed its own trailer, built for them by Ifor Williams, that securely carries a mini excavator, breaker and buckets without any requirement for multiple straps or chains to tie the machine down.

“The vast majority of our fleet is Kubota,” said WHC’s Marketing Manager Sean Firth. “When we change our equipment, we look at everything that is on the market, to decide what is the best for our customers. James carries out a 210-point inspection of each machine, to assess performance and versatility. Kubota machinery has been the most superior.

“The machines are very good, very reliable and a lot of our customers specify Kubota. Our customers come to us for a level of quality. So we work with our dealer Lister Wilder to deliver that.”

“We’re bringing a new option to the customer,” added James. “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.”

https://whchire.com/