Burning less fuel while moving more material was a key selling point for John Deere’s unveiling of its 744 X-Tier wheel loader.

The 744X-Tier is new to the John Deere line of mid to large-sized hybrid E-Drive wheel loaders. 

“We are introducing an electrified drivetrain component, specifically, an electric variable transmission in this machine that we anticipate has a lot of similar qualities to our 644 X-Tier and 944 X-Tier wheel loaders,” said Luke Gribble, solutions marketing manager wheel loaders, John Deere Construction and Forestry Division.

He said the 744 X-Tier wheel loader is expected to be available in 2024. Gribble said the 824 X-Tier utility wheel loader also will be introduced at the same time.

"So not only are we bringing the 744 X-Tier to market sometime soon, but the 824 X-Tier will also join our fleet at that same time," he said.

For the 744 X-Tier in particular, Gribble anticipates one of the lead applications to be aggregates, whether it be working in a standard gravel pit in the bottom of a quarry loading trucks or at a ready mix or asphalt plant.

“We do anticipate that there's going to be a lot of interest from the aggregate sector with customers moving towards more solutions like this,” he said. “That would be probably the target and we're expecting a lot of activity with this machine.”

John Deere has been active with hybrid loaders since 2013 with the introduction of the 644K Hybrid wheel loader, which has since evolved into the 644 X-Tier.

Like its smaller cousin, the 944K Hybrid also has been rebranded as the 944 X-Tier to align with John Deere's performance tiering strategy.

“All our loaders that we used to call hybrids are now being badged as this X-Tier designation with the E-Drive systems, an electric drive system,” Gribble said.

John Deere’s E-Drive machines feature an electrified drivetrain with a diesel engine as the primary power source. 

Gribble noted that the E-Drive machines like the 644 X-Tier, 944 X-Tier, and new 744 X-Tier, enable better fuel economy, improved powertrain component life, and stronger pushing power on the job than traditional models.

To date, via the available 644 X-Tier and 944 X-Tier machines, under their previous branding, he said John Deere has gotten nearly 3 million hours of service since they have been available.

For now, at its size class, the 944 X-Tier is the only model available to customers.

Gribble said the 744 X-Tier wheel loader is going through its final validation phase as all of John Deere's machines do to ensure they are hitting all the marks for what customers can expect.