I always thought they should be first. They are order of magnitude more utilised than passenger cars (at least 30% of time compared to 5% or so). They produce tons of noise and are more complex than electric.

Not that surprising actually, the static models (ie a crane in a scrapyard) have been electric for a long time.

If anything, the biggest challenge / last bastion will be for the highly mobile operations, bringing all the needed infrastructure to power them, which isn't as much as problem with diesel.

Maybe we'll see trucks mounted with large arrays of batteries to deploy on the field.

The answer is in the hp per ton numbers for heavy equipment. The ratio's are a lot lower than passenger vehicles.

D6K tractor, ~30,000 lbs, but only 125 hp.

vs

Tesla 3, 3500 lbs, and 260hp.

Worked at an open pit mine in the 90's...electric shovels. Cat had just come out with a diesel one when I was leaving. If you go huge electric is the only thing that will power it and the danger of fire from secondary forces like friction are greatly reduced. Friction provides the heat and you don't want a fuel source close.