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How a Swiss Startup is reducing emissions and driving innovation in the Construction OEMs Industry

Reducing CO2 emissions from heavy equipment and making construction greener is the goal of the Swiss clean-tech startup 4QT. Formed by a team with extensive experience in heavy equipment and defense, they have developed high-power electric drives for heavy equipment. In December 2023, they closed a pre-seed funding round of 1.9M CHF to launch their product. Meanwhile, they collaborate with large companies and institutions, such as ETH Zurich IWF, Armasuisse, and Bosch.

What are the key factors that have propelled them forward in the conservative construction sector? What can they offer to corporations? In an increasingly uncertain world, how is 4QT preparing for new technologies? Stay tuned and find out.

You will find in this article: ⬇️

1. High power electric drives for heavy equipment: understand their technology
2. Construction, a late adopter sector: how 4QT has managed to move in a conservative sector towards innovation
3. Driving innovation to companies and institutions: how 4QT can help companies and institutions

High power electric drives for heavy equipment

The construction and heavy equipment industry accounts for more than 20 million vehicles worldwide. However, it is a highly fragmented market responsible for 3.2 gigatons of CO2 emissions per year, which is equivalent to all the CO2 emitted by India in one year.

4QT, the Zurich-based Swiss startup, aims to directly combat this problem. To do this, they have developed a  holistic electrification solution that allows them to build hybrid engines for heavy vehicles. The team behind this idea is led by Marc Vetter, CEO and co-founder, an expert in propulsion systems trained at MIT. He is joined by Christoph Lang, former product manager of construction giant Hilti, Uygar Pala, a veteran of RollsRoyce and Rocketsan, and Jan Vetter,  a strategy specialist who has worked with the boards of automotive suppliers & manufacturers and deployed over $80M capital. Their advisory board includes experts from SpaceX, Wacker Neuson, and Rimac.

The construction and heavy machinery industry accounts for more than 20 million heavy vehicles worldwide. It is responsible for 3.2 gigatons of CO2 emissions per year, more than all the CO2 emitted by India in a year.

The industrial technological result of this human capital has multiple competitive factors within the booming electric motor sector, offering a holistic solution with hardware and software. It is a propulsion technology that combines conventional gasoline with an electric battery. Hybridization makes it possible to reduce the size of the battery by 60% compared to a 100% electric charge. This saves energy and provides greater autonomy, without the need to invest in electric charging infrastructure.

Electric components make it possible to achieve net-zero targets, combining greater efficiency and proven environmental sustainability, which overall translates into lower operating costs for your customers.

’“We’ve learned that without understanding our clients’ needs and specific industry challenges, we wouldn’t be able to successfully introduce or develop our product,” explains Christoph Lang, Co-founder and CCO of the startup 4QT. Initially, the 4QT engine was 100% electric. “However, after listening to our customers, we realized there were concerns about time efficiency and autonomy, particularly for those without the necessary charging infrastructure,” says Lang.

Construction: a late adopter sector

The heavy equipment OEM market is highly fragmented, with a few major players leading the industry amid a vast sea of SMEs and family-owned businesses. “It’s a conservative industry with paper-thin margins that forces companies to wait until regulations are implemented or larger players make change inevitable,” explains Lang. In fact, a study conducted by McKinsey in 2022 shows that labor productivity in construction continues to lag behind that of the manufacturing sector and the overall economy. 

Aware of these barriers to change, 4QT also has retrofit capabilities as they can implement their solution into existing or already old machines. Thus, their market focuses on small and medium-size heavy equipment, large construction companies open to change and innovation, but also large rental companies.

These companies have large fleets of machinery with a useful life of more than 10 years. “At the end of the day, there are 20 million vehicles in the market. If you only address the new ones you are leaving out 90% of the potential,” reflects Lang.

4QT is driving innovation to corporations and institutions

Both 4QT’s Co-founder Marc Vetter and Head of Technology Uygar Pala studied at ETH Zurich, where Pala completed his PhD a few years ago. However, their contact with the university remains open in the form of intensive application-oriented research. In the last 3 semesters, they have supervised 13 bachelor and master’s theses in exchange for collaboration and granted patents. This form of collaboration has opened new collaboration opportunities in other institutes such as ZHAW School of Engineering, Inspire, or Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

In December 2023 4QT closed a pre-seed funding round of 1.9M CHF to launch their product and they have explored opportunities to collaborate with ETH Zurich, Armasuisse and Bosch.

But that’s not all. “For us, collaborations can take the form of co-development and market entry or involve groundbreaking innovation research funded by non-dilutive grants from Switzerland and the EU,” explains Christoph. This way, they have been able to build a strong network with Swiss and European industry partners like WALO, Armasuisse, Bosch, Hydac Engineering, Lithium Systems, Robert Aebi, or even big American players like Honeywell. “They approach us as they want to get their hands on our technology to close their portfolio gaps”.

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