Back in the real world: electric equipment is saving job sites BIG MONEY

A Canadian company, Groupe Bellemare, has spent three years running battery-powered heavy equipment, like loaders and excavators, on a real job site instead of diesel machines, and the results are in. Over roughly 15,000 hours of use, the company spent less than $54,000 on electricity, compared to an estimated $423,000 it would have spent on diesel for the same work. That's a fuel cost drop of more than 87 percent. The test is part of a program with a Quebec research institute that runs through 2028, and Bellemare plans to keep adding electric equipment beyond the pilot.

Similar savings are showing up with electric semi trucks. A separate Canadian pilot using an electric Freightliner truck found savings of around $160,000 per truck compared with diesel, even though the electric truck cost more upfront. This runs counter to recent claims from the Wall Street Journal that electric trucks struggle to compete even with high diesel prices.

None of this is homeowner equipment, and there's no rebate or program here for houses. But it's a useful data point: battery-powered equipment is proving out lower running costs than diesel or gas versions in real-world use, not just in lab tests. That's the same basic logic behind swapping a gas furnace or water heater for an electric heat pump at home, lower fuel and operating costs over time, even when the upfront price is higher.