Tech behemoths ABB, Hitachi, Komatsu, and Sumitomo are collaborating to create a smart tech strategy that has reduced emissions across Japanese mining operations in response to the growing demand for battery materials worldwide.
With the completion of their first prototype in February of last year, Hitachi Construction Machinery and ABB Traction’s partnership to develop a large, totally electric 240-ton haul truck for extreme load mining operations reached a vital milestone. The new haul trucks are working at the Kansanshi copper-gold mine in Zambia, where Komatsu and Sumitomo have also joined in the past year.
Fabiana Cavalcante, Head of Mobile e-Power at ABB Traction, stated last year, “We are thrilled to see our collaboration with Hitachi Construction Machinery reaching this crucial step.” In addition to addressing the challenges associated with electrifying dump trucks, the project is facilitating a low-carbon future by lowering greenhouse gas emissions. We’re eager to see how well the prototype works in the copper-gold mine in Zambia.
The first OEM-led pilot program of this kind of electric vehicle in actual mining circumstances was launched at Kansanshi.
The question of what kind of electric vehicle is “this” was also a hot topic at last week’s Electric Mine Conference in Chile, where participants from ABB, Hitachi, Komatsu, and Sumitomo talked about Hitach’s electrification of FQM’s heavy haul trucks as well as the “trolley-style” overhead charging system that allows the trucks to run continuously without stopping for charging.
The truck’s high-capacity battery powers the electric drivetrain when it is on level terrain. In order to reduce the strain on the battery during power-intensive uphill climbs, the truck connects to the overhead lines and pulls extra power. The trucks use regenerative braking to refuel while running downhill.
The truck can run virtually nonstop thanks to the mine’s ingenious three-part system, which also significantly minimises (if not completely eliminates) any downtime related to charging.
As the demand for diesel is declining more quickly than most people anticipated, hitting a 26-year low last summer, the International Energy Agency (IEA), a Paris-based organisation with 31 member countries that was founded in 1974 and provides policy recommendations, analysis, and data on the global energy sector, projects that the demand for minerals from EVs will increase 30 times between 2020 and 2040, with demand for lithium and nickel growing 40 times.
The IEA’s forecasts contain increasingly common words like utility-scale battery energy storage and account for a number of battery development scenarios. All of this means that we will be mining much more and for much longer, and decarbonising those activities is essential to carrying out all of this effectively.
Hitachi’s fleet of 2500 HP EH4000 240-ton diesel mining trucks is currently scheduled to be converted to electric driving. You can see the company’s conceptual (read: entirely computer-generated) debut video from last year below to learn more about the ABB eMine process. Then, leave a comment below with your thoughts on the team’s cooperation.