Electric: indoors, finished floors, occupied buildings
No exhaust, so it can work inside an occupied building. Quiet enough for a hospital, a school or a hotel refurbishment. Non-marking tires that will not damage a finished floor. Lower running cost, because you are charging rather than fuelling.
The limits are real: small solid tires, low ground clearance, and a battery that has to be charged. On a Texas summer shift, expect less runtime than the spec sheet claims and plan a charge point in shade.
Diesel: ground, grade and duration
Four-wheel drive, lugged tires and real ground clearance. Refuelling takes minutes rather than hours, which matters on a double shift. Generally more capacity at the platform.
The trade-offs are exhaust, noise and the fact it will tear up a finished surface.
The Texas tax difference
Texas adds a 1.5% TERP surcharge on top of sales tax for the rental of off-road heavy-duty diesel equipment rated 50 horsepower or more. An electric slab scissor lift is taxed at 8.25%; a diesel rough terrain machine over that threshold can reach 9.75%.
On a four-week hire of a large machine that is real money, and it is almost never mentioned in rental comparisons. Note the threshold: plenty of smaller diesel lifts sit just under 50 hp, so it is worth asking the supplier which side of it the specific unit falls.
Hybrid and bi-energy
Some machines run electric indoors and diesel outdoors on the same unit. They cost more to hire and are worth it when a single job genuinely spans both, such as a shell-and-core building where the same machine works outside during the frame and inside during fit-out.