Electric is an option for Ineos - the payload is high enough that I would presume the vehicle is tough enough for a good load of batteries while still preserving it's function.
But I'd bet money on Hydrogen for Ineos's future over Electric. There's a few reasons for this:
1) Electricity still has to come from somewhere. In most of the world, in excess of 60% of electrical generation is provided by burning of fossil fuels. Throwing a million electric cars on the road will increase the demand on the grid, and fossil fuels are still the cheapest way to scale up. This is very much a regional stat - in places like Canada with an abundance of hydroelectric options, our context is a bit different than in, say, the southern USA.
I think that in cities, electric cars will take off very quickly. I think in rural areas, it won't. That leads me to...
2) Ineos is aiming this rig at professionals, and that means they must be able to make it work in places that don't even have what most of us would consider roads -- I'm thinking of the kinds of places the Halo Trust operates, who we know is one of Ineo's partner. So if they are over a hundred years behind on road infrastructure, I can't see them developing electrical charging infrastructure in these remote areas anytime soon. And there are significant cost savings for having common fuels on remote worksites -- for instance, the US Army did a custom commission of a bunch of diesel-powered KLR-650s specifically because they wanted to be able to fill all their gear out of the same fuel source. That brings me to 3)
3) What are the main sources of fuel for people outside of city living? It's still very much a diesel world. Transport trucks, ships, tractors, heavy equipment, etc. are all dependent on diesel. And while we've got some phenomenally good technology in our passenger cars to make EVs work well, the problems of this industrial equipment are totally different than the problems faced by passenger transportation -- you can improve EV range with things like aerodynamics, weight savings, regenerative breaking, etc. -- but the goal is all about travel distance. WIth heavy kit, it's all about the ability to do work, and aerodynamics of a backhoe are not going to make a big difference in it's overall efficiency. And, batteries are just not where they need to be to make them a suitable source of the kilowatts of energy needed for big equipment.
That's why I think Hydrogen is likely the future, and that brings me to 4:
4) Ineos is first and foremost a chemical company and so they have a solid grip on hydrogen production and technology.
5) Plus, a bonus point - Ineos has partnered with Hyundai on their hydrogen fuel cell technology; I've seen no such partnerships with the big EV tech companies, and I think this is a clue about where Ineos is planning on going:
https://www.ineos.com/news/ineos-group/ineos-and-hyundai-motor-company-cooperate-on-driving-the-hydrogen-economy-forward/
I went looking for info further to point 3 above, and found an article that summarizes the state of electric heavy equipment. There is some out there. Volvo is working on some, but their prototypes use electric actuators instead of hydraulics. That is not going to be as powerful, dollar for dollar, as hydraulic systems. Bobcat has one that can work for "a full for an eight-hour day on its lithium-ion batteries when coupled with an external supercharger with normal work breaks factored in. The excavator takes just two and a half hours to charge." -- but again, note the need for supercharger infrastructure. Caterpillar is having some success here, but the batteries are heavy -- over 3 tons for an excavator that can only work for 5 hours. In many sites, these rigs are running 24 hours a day. 5 hours isn't going to cut it. I'm not saying that electric heavy equipment won't work, but the battery tech isn't where it needs to be to support a big, heavy industrial application. Power density of batteries isn't there yet, and neither are charging rates, which are only useful in places with electrical infrastructure and many instances of heavy equipment use don't yet have that.
Alternatively, hydrogen can be filled from a truck and used a few minutes later, far more akin to diesel, so I think it makes more sense in that regard, and that's why I think Ineos would be wise to follow suit.
Edit: The Forum Software is giving me a bit of trouble, here are the links from the above post:
Ineo's partnering with Hyundai:
https://www.ineos.com/news/ineos-group/ineos-and-hyundai-motor-company-cooperate-on-driving-the-hydrogen-economy-forward/
Article on electrified heavy equipment:
https://www.constructconnect.com/blog/electric-dreams-will-heavy-construction-equipment-go-electric
