Bauma the Big One in 2025

A look ahead to the massive trade fair in Munich for construction and mining vehicles.

December 6, 2024

Ryan Gehm

Show planners say Bauma 2025 will be larger than the post-pandemic edition held in 2022. (Messe München)

December is a good time to reflect on the past year – to celebrate successes and consider opportunities for improvement – but it is also an opportune time to look to the future. As I think about the year ahead and appraise the tradeshow landscape that’ll provide significant content for this website, the print edition of Truck & Off-Highway Engineering magazine, our e-newsletters and other multimedia products, none is bigger than Bauma in Munich, Germany, particularly in terms of the global construction and mining vehicle industries.

Ryan Gehm, Editor-in-Chief of SAE’s Truck & Off-Highway Engineering magazine. (SAE International)

The triennial event will cover an area that’s equivalent to 86 soccer fields, according to Stefan Rummel, CEO of Messe München GmbH. Speaking to the press during an October virtual preview of Bauma 2025, which takes place from April 7-13, Rummel said that the number of exhibitors – expected to be about 3,600 – will be closer to the 2019 event versus the post-COVID-19 edition that was pushed back from its usual spring timeslot to the fall of 2022.

“We are experiencing very strong demand,” Rummel said. He noted that some key exhibitors are back after sitting out the post-pandemic Bauma, including Volvo, Deutz, CNH and LiuGong. Some notable companies among the 150 first-time exhibitors include Fortescue, Sandvik and Gravis Robotics, a Switzerland-based developer of autonomous excavators.

Key topics at Bauma will include climate neutrality, alternative drive systems, networked and sustainable construction, and the “mining challenge” – namely, how to secure all the raw materials necessary for batteries, motors and myriad technologies in various industries but with as minimal impact on the environment as possible.

Electrification will be a major focus for many exhibiting companies. Asked which global markets are leading in this area, Joachim Schmid, managing director, construction equipment and plant engineering and managing director of mining at VDMA, said that Northern Europe and the UK can be mentioned in the underground mining sector. “For open-pit mining, it is clearly Australia, where there have been trolley solutions before and where Liebherr has now launched an innovation with Fortescue in battery-electric technology,” Schmid said.

The Liebherr Trolley Assist System on the T 274 (shown) is “an effective first step on the road to zero-emission mine sites,” the company states. Liebherr and Fortescue recently debuted the next step: an autonomous battery-electric haul truck that likely will be on display in Munich. (Messe München)

For the construction sector, VDMA currently sees the strongest market penetration for electric machines in Northern Europe (especially Norway) and the Netherlands. “More and more battery-electric machines are coming from China, especially beyond the compact sector. However, market penetration there is still quite low,” Schmid said.

Exhibitors such as Liebherr have already begun to set up their booths in the outdoor area for the April 2025 event. A portion of the 2022 outdoor exhibit is pictured. (Messe München)

Other CO2-neutral propulsion systems will be necessary as well. “Bigger machines need a lot of energy – you cannot build the battery packs that big” for some applications, Schmid said. “In our industry, we will need the full range of possibilities. We’ll have the internal combustion engine, but it doesn’t have to be a CO2 disaster. Now we can run them with e-fuels, for example, that are produced from green hydrogen, so it’s climate neutral. We also can run them directly with hydrogen. There’s also the fuel cell, which in certain cases would be the best solution. The best technology will find the way, and bear in mind, it all will be CO2 neutral.”

In 2025, stay tuned for content detailing all these technology trends – and more – covered not only from the ground in Munich but throughout North America and elsewhere. If the developments and progress of the past few years are any indication, it’s sure to be a fascinating 12 months ahead for the various commercial and off-highway vehicle sectors.