The most stubborn emissions come from the biggest machines. While passenger cars and delivery vans are steadily going electric, the diesel engines powering excavators, dump trucks, and military utility vehicles have largely stayed put. They are heavy, expensive, and built for punishing, remote work cycles where a dead battery is not an option. For a Swiss startup spun out of ETH Zürich, that’s not a reason to wait. It’s the wedge.
4QT is not trying to replace a 40-ton excavator overnight. Instead, the company is selling a hybrid and electric drivetrain system that can be retrofitted into existing diesel platforms or specified for new builds. Their core innovation is a novel electric motor they call the Double Rotor Machine (DRM), an axial-flux design that promises high power density without rare-earth magnets. Paired with modular LFP battery packs and control software, it forms what they term a “4-quadrant transmission,” letting a machine switch between pure diesel, pure electric, regenerative charging, and a combined boost mode [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF]. The claim is a roughly 30% reduction in emissions and fuel use for heavy utility vehicles, a number that gets the attention of procurement officers facing tightening public tender rules [S2 Xpeed Portfolio].
A bet on retrofit, not replacement
The strategic bet is clear: convince the giants of construction, mining, and defense that they can decarbonize incrementally. A fully electric, clean-sheet dumper might be a decade away for many fleets, but swapping a diesel transmission for a 4QT hybrid drivetrain could be a project for next year. This retrofit capability is the company’s key market entry point, lowering the barrier for OEMs and large fleet owners to begin their electrification journey without a multi-year, billion-dollar platform redesign [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF].
The early traction signals suggest this pitch is resonating in specific, high-value corridors. According to portfolio materials, 4QT has deployed four paid technology demonstrators and has secured letters of intent for over 450 annual vehicles [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF]. Their stated customer base is a telling mix of the pragmatic and the strategic: heavy-equipment OEMs, defense contractors, and government or army customers [PERPLEXITY SONAR PRO BRIEF].
The team and the technical wedge
As an ETH Zürich spin-off, 4QT’s foundation is academic engineering rigor. Co-founders Marc Vetter (CEO) and Uygar Pala (CTO) both studied at the university, with Pala holding a PhD from the institution [S2Xpeed Blog]. The third co-founder, Christoph Lang, serves as CCO [LinkedIn].
| Founder | Title | Key Background |
|---|---|---|
| Marc Vetter | CEO & Co-Founder | ETH Zürich background, co-lead of the spin-out [S2Xpeed Blog][4QT Imprint] |
| Uygar Pala | CTO & Co-Founder | PhD from ETH Zürich, Head of R&D and Technology [LinkedIn][S2Xpeed Blog] |
| Christoph Lang | CCO & Co-Founder | Co-founder focused on commercial operations [LinkedIn] |
Funding and the path to scale
To date, 4QT has raised a relatively modest war chest for a hardware-heavy climatetech venture. The company closed a CHF 1.9 million (approximately $2 million) pre-seed round in December 2023, led by Unruly Capital with participation from StartupGym, Ciri Ventures, Climate Capital, and Tiny VC [Startupticker, January 2024].
Where the wheels could come off
The ambition is significant, and so are the hurdles. 4QT is not just developing a component; it is asking conservative, safety-critical industries to integrate a novel powertrain into their most valuable assets.
- The certification gauntlet. For defense and regulated construction equipment, certification and qualification processes are long, expensive, and non-negotiable.
- The industrial scaling cliff. Moving from a few hand-built demonstrators to hundreds or thousands of reliable, cost-competitive units is the classic valley of death for hardware startups.
- The incumbent response. While no direct competitors are named in the sources, the established giants in automotive and industrial drives are not asleep.
The next twelve months
The coming year will likely determine if 4QT is a fascinating research project or a credible future supplier. The milestones to watch are concrete: converting a meaningful portion of those 450 LOIs into firm purchase orders, announcing a production partnership with a manufacturing specialist, and securing the next funding round to cross the industrialisation chasm. A public deal with a named European OEM or defense department would be the strongest possible signal.