LAS VEGAS — New Holland Construction, a subsidiary of CNH Industrial, aims to capitalize on equipment rental opportunities via new electric vehicles.
“As far as ease-ability and serviceability [of EVs], that’s a big advantage for a lot of our customers, especially in the rental markets,” Ryan Anderson, light construction product marketing manager at New Holland, said during a booth tour at CONEXPO in Las Vegas last week. “When I talk about rental, I talk about the [do-it-yourselfers], where something like this is very easy to start, refuel and service.”
Japanese OEM Komatsu also sees opportunities in daily EV rentals and urban areas, the company’s North America Chairman and Chief Executive Rod Schrader said during a press session at the expo. Operators “are going out to the job, doing the work, bringing the equipment back to the shop at the end of the day, it will be plugged in overnight, and you’re ready for the next day.”
Mini excavators and other smaller equipment work well in the rental environment, Anderson said.
Mini excavators, “in general, are outstanding in a rental yard, so something like this works for a rental operation,” Anderson said. “Everything [rental operations] buy has to have a return on investment. Something like this can definitely do that [because] less parts, less filters, less things to keep an eye on, and is indeed battery powered.”
Still, profitability concerns limit rentals as a long-term strategy for an OEM, Tyler Mills, head of New Holland Construction in North America, told Equipment Finance News
“Rental is a big exposure play, but as a long-term strategy, rental is tough,” Mills said. “Rentals are not as profitable as a regular retail business for an OEM, generally, because you’re renting on volume.”
