Will Lumina become the Tesla of Heavy Equipment

In May last year we reported on San Francisco-based company Lumina’s first machine, a 32-tonne electric bulldozer, now we hear more news about other new additions to the product range.

Originally founded back in 2021 by two tech entrepreneurs, Ahmed Shubber and Federico Di Palma, Lumina has ambitious plans to emulate Elon Musk’s success with electric cars, into the heavy construction equipment sector.

The revolutionary new dozer named Moonlander, was revealed in a blaze of glory last year, but there has not been that much publicity on it since. One would imagine that some field testing is still going on, but just how many have been produced remains unclear.

It appears now that they are gearing up to launch a futuristic looking 100-tonne electric powered crawler excavator in the first quarter of 2027, named the Bladerunner, it looks like the modular styled base machine can also be supplied as a crane, or a drilling rig.

Other big news is that Lumina has acquired the steel plate processing firm Katmex who are based in Stockton-on-Tees in the North East of England. This deal includes ownership of the 250,000 sq. ft factory, which includes 20+ CNC machines, multiple cutting beds, and a 100 strong employee force.

The facility has been supplying a number of British based construction machinery manufacturers for years, including Caterpillar, Komatsu and JCB. It is believed that the company will still be supplying existing customers with steel, but the factory will also become a facility for the fabrication of Lumina machinery over the coming months and years.

It will be interesting to see how this all pans out for everyone involved.

We posted this video last year, but as there is currently nothing on the new excavator, I'm just adding this again for a bit of context.