IN Brief:
- Speedy Hire is acquiring 25,000 Hilti assets through a rolling five-year fleet agreement.
- More than 60 product lines are covered, including equipment using Hilti’s common 22V Nuron battery platform.
- Hilti will provide managed service and repair support through its GB repair operation in Glasgow.
Speedy Hire is adding 25,000 Hilti assets to its UK fleet under a rolling five-year agreement, expanding its cordless equipment offering and placing service, repair, and battery standardisation at the centre of the investment.
The multi-million-pound programme covers more than 60 Hilti product lines and includes equipment based on the manufacturer’s Nuron cordless platform. Hilti will also provide fleet management support, with service and repairs handled through its GB repair centre in Glasgow.
An order of that size creates a substantial maintenance and replacement programme as well as a procurement commitment. The commercial return depends on keeping assets available across a national depot network, controlling repair times, and matching equipment to sufficient customer demand over its working life.
Hilti’s Fleet Management model places responsibility for servicing and repair with the manufacturer. Under the Speedy agreement, that provides a defined route for maintaining the tools rather than handling each failure or service requirement through separate supplier arrangements.
Nuron forms the technical core of the investment. Hilti launched the 22V platform in 2022 as a common battery ecosystem for applications ranging from drilling and fastening to heavier breaking and cutting work. The manufacturer’s current corporate material says the platform now spans more than 120 tools globally.
The system also carries a data layer. Nuron batteries can store information covering tool use, charging location, and battery condition, with data transferred during charging. Hilti combines that capability with services such as ON!Track and Fleet Management to improve visibility over utilisation and equipment condition.
Speedy’s announcement refers to fleet insights as part of the customer proposition, although it does not state that every asset in the 25,000-unit programme will use the full ON!Track functionality. Connected equipment only produces operational value when the surrounding software and service configuration is deployed consistently across depots and customers.
Battery standardisation is another practical part of the programme. Large hire fleets typically contain equipment acquired at different times and built around several charging formats. Increasing the proportion of tools on a common 22V platform can reduce the number of battery and charger types held at depots and simplify transfers between branches.
The same approach can reduce friction for customers renting several tool types for one site. Compatible batteries across drilling, fastening, cutting, and breaking equipment limit the amount of charging hardware required and make replacement batteries easier to manage during a shift.
The agreement reflects the continuing move from corded and combustion-powered small equipment towards higher-output battery systems. Hilti has expanded Nuron into applications previously associated with mains power or petrol, including heavier cutting and breaking duties.
Battery equipment can reduce dependence on extension leads and fuel handling, but suitability still depends on duty cycle, charging capacity, and the intensity of each application. Hire companies therefore have to manage not only the number of tools in circulation but also the batteries, chargers, and site expectations around runtime.
The investment follows a difficult financial year for Speedy. Its 2026 results showed a £32.3m pre-tax loss, with subdued construction activity and higher borrowing costs weighing on performance. A large fleet commitment consequently puts greater emphasis on utilisation, maintenance cost, and the ability to place new assets into revenue-generating work.
Speedy operates more than 100 depots and serves construction, infrastructure, and industrial customers, giving the Hilti programme a broad distribution footprint. That scale increases the value of standard processes because a common battery platform and centrally managed repair route can be applied across multiple branches rather than maintained as a specialist range.
It also increases the consequences of weak utilisation. Thousands of additional assets create depreciation and working capital requirements regardless of whether every unit is continuously rented, making fleet data and branch-level demand planning central to the investment case.
Hilti has continued to expand Nuron since launch, adding heavier-duty cordless products as battery output and charging performance have improved. A rolling five-year agreement allows Speedy to absorb that development progressively rather than treating the 25,000 assets as a one-off fleet replacement fixed to the current product range.
The five-year structure should also spread replacement and repair cycles rather than creating a single-age fleet. As older equipment leaves service and new products are introduced, Speedy will be able to adjust the mix while retaining the same underlying battery architecture across a large proportion of the tools.
The programme will ultimately be judged on utilisation rather than the headline unit count. If common batteries, managed repairs, and better fleet visibility reduce downtime while keeping the tools deployed, the agreement can reduce the operational friction associated with a large cordless fleet; weak demand would make underused equipment considerably harder to absorb.
