Utility equipment investment up alongside infrastructure spending

As industrial and infrastructure spending expands, more equipment companies are investing in the utility equipment market to gain market share. 

The global market for utility equipment was valued at $12 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $14.6 billion by 2030, a 3.3% compound annual growth rate, according to a July 24 report by market research firm Research and Markets.

Utility equipment consists of specialized machinery and vehicles, such as bucket trucks, digger derricks and service vans, used by utility companies and municipalities to build, maintain and repair electrical, telecommunications and infrastructure systems. 

Investment in the utility equipment sector has companies looking to carve out their share of the market, with demand from industrial and infrastructure sectors, rising utility-scale deployments, and continued electrification efforts, according to the report. 

One such manufacturer, Elliott Equipment, invests in innovative technologies, streamlined workflows, and dealer support to meet the rising demand of the utility equipment industry, Chief Executive Jim Glazer told Equipment Finance News.

“For lender or finance people, we want to keep building high-quality equipment that retains its value incredibly well, which it does, and then gives a very good return on investment for our customers,” he said. “That’s why we try to really understand what they’re doing.”

Utility truck market in growth mode 

Meanwhile, private fixed investment in light truck transportation equipment, which includes utility trucks, landed at $178.2 billion in 2024, up 13.7% year over year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

On the dealer and rental front, Custom Truck One Source builds, sells, services and rents vocational trucks for the utility and infrastructure markets, which make up about 85% of its revenue, Chief Financial Officer Christopher Eperjesy said during the D.A. Davidson Diversified Industrials and Services Conference in Nashville, Tenn., last month.  

By outfitting chassis from manufacturers such as Peterbilt or Freightliner with specialized equipment, including buckets, diggers, dumps, or cranes, Kansas City, Mo.-based Custom Truck One Source produces roughly 90% to 95% of its finished trucks in-house, Eperjesy said. 

“[The] majority of what we put into our rental fleet or ultimately sell to our customers, we’ve put together from our great suppliers,” he said. “If you think about utility, and you think about all of the other in-markets that we’re serving, we’re offering an entire set of products to those customers.” 

Versatility efforts 

Part of the growth of the utility equipment industry comes with the versatility required from the equipment in the sector. This is also expected to grow as technology within the sector develops, according to the Research and Markets report. Many OEMs, including Elliott Equipment, HD Hyundai, Huddig and Morgan Olsen, aim to expand their versatility to meet market demands. 

To deliver more versatility for its machines, Huddig collaborates with its engineering team in Sweden to design customized lifting solutions for customers and dealers, Paul Barlow, president of Huddig Inc., the company’s North American division, told EFN. 

“It’s very much a collaborative type of sale in terms of what they want to do with it and then defining if the machine is capable of doing that. We’re building a relationship with the customer, with the dealer and the manufacturer, because we need the dealer to self-support the machine.” — Paul Barlow, president of Huddig Inc.

Morgan Olson also develops its Kestel utility truck and Route Star step van alongside third parties, including Jeep and Altec, to meet the expanding demand of the industry, Ken Klein, the OEM’s director of marketing and communications, told EFN. 

“Morgan Olson builds the foundation utility truck, and then we partner with … other large third-party outfitters,” he said. “As far as our step vans, that’s sometimes right now, an area in which city municipalities and power companies are looking for EV chassis platforms, and we work with all chassis manufacturers on our step vans.” 

Utility market outlook 

Despite uncertainty from issues including a government shutdown and funding delays, industry leaders expect equipment demand to remain steady as projects will still require machinery once activity resumes, Jody Ray, vice president and relationship manager at BMO Bank North America, said during an Oct. 21 EFN webinar. 

“If nothing else, we have data centers that are popping up all over the place that are requiring all kinds of equipment to be used by the construction crews and the utility crews building them, so it’s that ebb and flow that has just been part of the game. We all wish we had the crystal ball that would tell us exactly what will happen, but when the good comes, we work with the good and we work to mitigate the bad.” — Jody Ray, vice president and relationship manager at BMO Bank North America.

For the OEMs, adapting to the evolving demands of customers, dealers and finance providers while maintaining quality is key, Elliott Equipment CEO Glazer said. 

“We’re not really beholden to doing it the way it always was done,” he said. “We want to be innovative in engineering and manufacturing products, although we’re a 75-year-old company, our continuous improvement methodology allows us to do that.”

Check out our exclusive industry data here.