Earthmoving machines may soon get a boost of diesel-electric hybrid power, as heavy-equipment producers mirror automakers' efforts to attack problems that rising oil consumption poses to inflation, energy security and the environment.

New Holland, a division of Lake Forest, Ill.-based CNH Global N.V., may be the first vendor out of the chute with the "HE-01," a 7-ton hydraulic excavator powered by 2.2L diesel engine and a 37-kW electric motor.