When Komatsu rolled out its WA Electric wheel loader during demonstration sessions at the 2022 Bauma equipment trade show in Munich, Germany, last October, engineers and sales staff at the booth were not expecting the little machine to steal the show. But customers who came up afterward wanted to know if they could buy one on the spot, despite the “Prototype” label plastered all over the machine.
“The customers were very positive and enthusiastic about it,” recalls Michael Wadsack, product manager at Komatsu Europe. “We had some who wanted to buy it immediately without even hearing a price.” The surprising demand for a prototype put together in barely a year has given Komatsu another data point on how fast it can advance toward the equipment manufacturer’s stated goal of being carbon-neutral by 2050.