Grupo Base Buys 6 Electric Wheel Loaders, Keeps Excavators on Diesel

Grupo Base has ordered six battery-electric wheel loaders for its crushing yards and concrete plants in Brazil, and it kept three large excavators on diesel. The deal, sold through dealer Grupo Tracbel, is the first sale of SDLG electric equipment in Brazil and was reported on 16 October 2026.

The split matters well beyond São Paulo state. A named commercial buyer has decided which machines electric power suits today and which it does not. Quarry, aggregates and construction operators elsewhere face that same decision.

Here is what the order shows about which machines go electric first, and what still has to be true on site before another operator follows.

Why did Grupo Base electrify its loaders and keep its excavators diesel?

The diesel half of the order says the most. Grupo Base bought three SDLG E6505H excavators, each weighing 52 tonnes, for aggregates work at the lower rock faces in Porto Feliz, Salto and Capivari. Those machines will burn fuel.

The logic is in the work each machine does. A loader repeats a measurable loop: fill the bucket, reverse, travel a short distance, dump, pause. That rhythm allows regenerative braking (recovering energy when the machine slows), cuts idling and creates gaps for opportunity charging, meaning short top-ups during breaks.

Excavators digging rock face sharp hydraulic power peaks. Their battery would have to deliver large bursts of instant power as well as enough total energy for a shift, so the choice comes down to power profile rather than preference.

Electric excavator deployments are still far rarer than loader trials, and the 1,000-unit mark reached by one major manufacturer shows how slowly digging machines are crossing over compared with repetitive-cycle equipment.

A 2026 study points the same way, naming wheel loaders and compact and medium excavators as early candidates and estimating electric energy demand about 56% below diesel across the machines it examined.

Grupo Base’s stated aim Edson Pechio, President and CEO of Grupo Base, described the order as part of an important operational change aimed at higher efficiency and gradually lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Carlos Renato Machado, Executive Director of Tracbel’s SDLG division, called the contract a historic milestone. Grupo Base is also negotiating Tracbel service plans. If your site runs fixed-base loading with predictable pauses, this mix suggests the loader is where an electric trial is easiest to justify, while heavy digging remains diesel territory.

What the CATL LFP battery and opportunity charging do and do not prove

What the specifications say

Both models run on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries from CATL. LFP is a lithium-ion chemistry known for safety and long cycle life. The L972 HEV carries 423 kWh and the L938 HEV 180 kWh, with a reported 8-9 hours of operation per charge.

Tracbel is also supplying chargers inside the mining area so the machines can top up during pauses and keep working. CATL’s partnership with SDLG is reported to help with system integration and maintenance across the machines’ service life.

Sérgio Reis, Tracbel SDLG Account Executive, pointed to productivity, quick response, lower noise and zero local emissions. For context, typical 20-30-tonne electric loaders carry 150-300 kWh and use 150-350 kW DC charging, taking about 1-3 hours for a full charge.

What still has to be verified on site

That 8-9 hour figure is vendor-reported for one application. Runtime shifts with payload, gradient, travel distance, temperature, operator behaviour and charging strategy, and no quantified Brazilian field result exists yet.

One sizing example shows the spread. A 20-tonne loader averaged about 15 kWh per operating hour, yet peak bucket-cycle demand reached about 50 kWh per hour, with site-to-site variation of 20-80%.

The risks that most affect quarry operators are practical ones:

• Dust and abrasive material fouling connectors, cooling and electronics
• Heat, which makes thermal management more demanding than cold in Brazil
• Grid capacity, where remote sites may need transformer upgrades
• A shortage of trained high-voltage technicians outside major centres
• Uncertain resale values compared with diesel machines

If you are weighing a purchase, size it on measured energy per hour, peak demand, charger and transformer capacity and service coverage, not on nameplate battery capacity.

Charging infrastructure, not the machine itself, often becomes the limiting factor at remote sites, since transformer capacity and DC charger availability determine whether a fleet can realistically top up during shift pauses.

Where does this order sit in the global electric loader market?

Step outside Brazil and the market splits sharply. China sells electric wheel loaders at commercial scale, while Europe and Latin America remain project-led.

The China figures come from the China Construction Machinery Industry Association. Other series, such as 29,771 units for full-year 2025, measure different windows and should not be compared directly.

Against that backdrop, Grupo Base’s order moves SDLG electric loaders in Brazil from introduction to a named commercial deployment. It does not prove mass adoption, since no recent independent quarry outcomes for other major brands, and no verified Chilean deployment, could be found.

The case is mostly economic: cheaper electricity than diesel, fewer engine and exhaust after-treatment parts, lower maintenance and less noise. Brazil’s PROCONVE MAR-2 off-road emissions rules add background pressure on diesel, but they are not the main driver. Read this as an early signal for fixed-site, high-utilisation operations with grid access, not for remote, continuous-duty sites.

Operators weighing which machines suit electric power are part of a wider shift toward battery-electric mining equipment, where the economic case rests on lower energy costs, fewer engine parts and reduced noise and local emissions.

What to watch before this becomes a trend

One fixed-site order shows where electric loaders fit now. Whether the model spreads depends on three things: field performance data from Grupo Base’s machines, service and parts support outside major centres, and charging and grid capacity at quarry sites.

For operators considering a trial, the decision rule is simple. Match electric machines to predictable shifts, a fixed base and measured energy demand, and keep diesel where power peaks or logistics still favour it.

Readers interested in a large-scale fleet programme can see our detailed coverage of Fortescue zero-emission machinery, which examines how one major miner is deploying electric equipment across operations.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with financial professionals before making investment decisions. Performance targets and forward-looking statements cited here are subject to change based on site conditions and market developments.