German engine manufacturer Deutz has acquired the Dutch-based UMS company, which is a specialist in the development of battery-electric drive systems for electrification of off-highway vehicles. This move allows Deutz to strengthen its innovative strength in the growing Deutz New Technology segment. The purchase agreement for 100 percent of the shares of UMS Holding BV was signed on April 6.
The Dutch company has already successfully electrified over 200 machines, including excavators, wheel loaders, and cranes. In 2024, sales are reported to have been approximately €10 million. The company reports that future order intake is expected to be in the high double-digit million range. These orders come from customers who rely on UMS as a one-stop shop for the electrification of their machines.
“By acquiring UMS, Deutz is accelerating the development of battery-electric drives for heavy-duty applications and will immediately facilitate the electrification of larger off-highway machines,” says Deutz CEO Dr. Sebastian C. Schulte. “We are thus taking a strategically important step under our Dual+ strategy and will play a key role in the consolidation of the market for internal combustion engines and for climate-friendly drives used to power large machines.”
Deutz New Technology CEO Bert van Hasselt underlines the significance for the alternative drive business: “By purchasing UMS, we are taking a technological leap forward and saving both time and resources. Moreover, our expertise in industrialization will enable the UMS technology to be scaled up. This acquisition underpins our strategy to offer the best products in the market to our customer, now and in the future.”
UMS-CEO and -CTO Lars Kool says: “Deutz’s 161 years of industrial experience and its modern production network at major sites in Germany make it the ideal partner for automating battery assembly and the production of e-kits and ramping them up for mass distribution.” The industrialization of the UMS solutions will predominantly take place at Deutz’s German sites, allowing them to significantly enhance their capabilities in the field of battery-electric drives.
By acquiring UMS, Deutz can target new customer groups in the transportation and logistics sector and greatly accelerate research and development in relation to alternative drives. This is because UMS’s electrification kits make it easy to integrate alternative drives into the existing engine space without having to spend considerable time and money on redesigning the machines. As a result, they can be installed in new machines on existing assembly lines or directly retrofitted. UMS uses replaceable batteries. In excavators, for example, these batteries can easily be integrated at the rear in place of the counterweight and can be changed in under ten minutes. This makes them cost-effective in machines that are used to move heavy loads, such as on construction sites or in agricultural applications. When the batteries are combined with small Deutz internal combustion engines in a hybrid system, even the electrification of larger machines becomes immediately possible. Furthermore, UMS’s alternative drives open up new defense applications. The first feasibility studies have already been produced for equipping military vehicles – e.g. the Bushmaster troop carrier – with a hybrid solution in which the electric drive with its low acoustic signature is to be deployed for tactical reasons.
Completion of the acquisition is subject to the usual conditions, particularly the necessary regulatory approvals, and is expected to take place in the upcoming months.
