The RP5500 E, shown here, produces maximum power of 6,875 watts and weighs 176 pounds.Photo: Caterpillar
As evidenced in the video below, Caterpillar is well aware you’re used to seeing much larger equipment emerging from its plants than the company’s new line of portable generators. It will market them worldwide to homeowners as well as commercial customers.
The Cat RP Series generators range from 3.6 kW to 7.5 kW in North America. (In Europe, the range is 2.5 kW to 4.4 kW.)
You can buy them, Caterpillar says, through Cat dealers, local retail stores and “eventually,” the company says, through national retailers and wholesalers. The multi-channel distribution network is being organized as “Cat Home & Outdoor Power Authorized Sales and Service Centers.”
The most powerful model in the Cat RP Series is the RP7500 E, which produces maximum power of 9,375 watts, weighs about 207 pounds and carries a suggested retail price of $1,149.99. The least powerful in the line is the RP3600, with maximum power of 4,500 watts.
The RP6500 handles table saws, hammer drills, air compressors and similar needs.Photo: Caterpillar
Landscapers may want to check out the RP5500. It produces maximum power of 6,875 watts, weighs 176 pounds and has a suggested retail price of $749.
You can see all of the generators in the Cat RP Series at this link.
With a variety of financial challenges, mostly tied to its largest machines, Caterpillar is clearly looking to sell into new, much different markets. A company executive said as much in Caterpillar’s news release introducing its portable generators.
“This is about providing a new customer base with the right solutions for their home and outdoor power needs that reflect the reliability, rugged capabilities and quality with which Cat products are known,” said George Taylor, a Caterpillar vice president who oversees its Marketing & Digital Division and serves as chief marketing officer. “We want to connect these customers to Caterpillar’s decades of experience in the electric power business, and this new distribution approach means we can do just that.”
The portable generators will become available in the United States during the remainder of 2016. Availability in Europe should begin late this year, Caterpillar said.
Here’s a video about the new generator line’s first meeting with its older, giant forbears in the Caterpillar family:
