Kohler’s roadmap toward electrification has 2025 as its first-time goal, the date when it is expected to take off. The company’s vision is to develop sustainable and technically sound EV system solutions to increase the performance of internal combustion engines by placing full electric solutions alongside them, thereby making Kohler the best partner for drop-in options in key markets, according to Kohler; integrated power unit solutions that enable the most cost-effective and efficient operation possible, but above all modularity with a wide choice of solutions – hybrid, mild hybrid, full electric – to meet every OEM need, according to Kohler. Concretely, it means that Kohler is working on hybrid in parallel with the K-HEM line, but wants to expand to hybrid and full electric architecture as well.

Kohler intends to put more emphasis on innovation and development of new technologies for green transition this year, with reliable products and global performance; not only electrification, but the study of new fuels to meet the diverse and changing needs of OEM’s.

Furthermore, Kohler has joined the eFuel Alliance, the organization that represents companies and other organizations that support and promote the use of alternative fuels from renewable energy on an industrial scale. Since February of this year, Kohler has allowed HVO, a renewable fuel that can be produced from various vegetable oils and fats, to be used on its diesel engines. Kohler has also decided to include hydrogen as an alternative fuel. The hydrogen internal combustion engine will be a cost-effective drop-in solution, and potentially adaptable to most applications. Benefits include a 100 percent reduction in CO2 emissions and near-zero emissions but with diesel-like performance. Also considered within this strategy will be the all-new KSD range, the latest addition to Kohler’s lineup that, according to Kohler, promises flexibility of options and quality performance while maintaining a compact design. The engine, already presented as a multi-fuel platform, will be enhanced by the hybrid model.

Thus are born the new pillars of Kohler’s strategy, new avenues to be pursued: alternative fuels, more economical and logistically manageable, to be developed by 2030; electrification and hybridization, to reduce engine size or achieve zero emissions during operation; and hydrogen as a potential green source fuel. And it’s not only product-related, it’s a significant change of direction in corporate strategy under the banner of a more sustainable future.