My personal prediction is in 10 years when people see what a sham this whole zero emissions thing is the electric equipment will drop. And yes diesel is expensive but electric and batteries aren’t free and it’s worth something to get done faster. If you’re paying an operator to run that and I’m paying an operator to run my 75 plus burning $5 of diesel an hour while getting done twice as fast who is coming out ahead? Just the operator salary is worth more than the diesel I’m burning and that’s putting no price on the increased work that got done.
Yeah but the virtue signaling the guy with the electric ssl is what seals the deal for him. If it’s a customer who wants a zero emissions worksite or the work is being done inside a building, guess what tool will be doing the job.
Its not the operator or the excavating company that decides diesel or electric on a job site, it will be the customer that owns the job site. As Peace mentioned, diesel fuel is pushing $4/gallon. I’m losing my shirt over this all the while listening to people complain about how food and everything else costs more now. It’s all made via the cost of diesel fuel.
The trend is going in the direction of the electric, be it as flawed or slow or actually equally as polluting as they are.