Photo: Liebherr
The race to electrify machinery that otherwise runs on fossil fuel is intensifying, as not only producers of such machinery are getting on board, but their operators too. In most cases, especially when it comes to the latter group, a switch to electric is not necessarily fueled by the need to save the environment, but by the high costs of operating ICE-powered machines.
Down Under, an iron ore company called Fortescue Metals Group is investing $6.2 billion in decarbonization by the end of the decade, hoping that by cutting the use of fossil fuels it could save even more than that in the long run. And one way to do that is to turn the company’s fleet of over 240 mining haul trucks, which ate up 200 million liters (almost 53 million gallons) of fuel in 2021, into EVs.
In the summer of last year, Fortescue struck a deal with German equipment manufacturer Liebherr to jointly develop a battery electric mining haul truck based on the T 264. That’s a 240-ton beast loaded with a 2,700 hp diesel engine and backed by 4,425 hp electric wheel motors.
Under the deal, one of the 120 haul trucks Fortescue will purchase from Liebherr will become an electric prototype to be tested starting this year in the Pilbara region of Australia.
For that to happen though, a battery pack was needed, and this week Fortescue announced it got just that. Put together by WAE Technologies (until recently Williams Advanced Engineering), the system is simply breathtaking.
Described as “the largest battery of its kind,” the hardware is a 1.4 MWh piece (that’s 1,400 kWh, or about 24 times more than the battery capacity of a Tesla Model 3) that weighs 16 tons, is 3.6 meters (12 feet) long, 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) wide, and 2.4 meters (7.8 feet) high.
The battery is not one-piece, but comprises eight separate sub-packs. Each of the sub-packs is made up of 36 modules, each of them with its own cooling and management systems.
We’re not told for how long the battery will be able to power the T 264 truck, but a couple of other juicy details have been made public. One would be the fact that when plugged in, the battery can be fast charged in just 30 minutes – although, to be fair, we’re not told if that’s for the entire system or just one sub-pack. Another would be power regeneration, as the truck will be capable of generating energy as it drives downhill.
Fortescue said the battery arrived at its workshop in Perth, where it will be assembled and then installed on the mining truck. It will then head to Pilbara for real-world testing.
If successful, the electric mining beast will spawn an entire family of similar machines, which will be accompanied in the Fortescue fleet by hydrogen-powered haul trucks as well.
In the summer of last year, Fortescue struck a deal with German equipment manufacturer Liebherr to jointly develop a battery electric mining haul truck based on the T 264. That’s a 240-ton beast loaded with a 2,700 hp diesel engine and backed by 4,425 hp electric wheel motors.
Under the deal, one of the 120 haul trucks Fortescue will purchase from Liebherr will become an electric prototype to be tested starting this year in the Pilbara region of Australia.
For that to happen though, a battery pack was needed, and this week Fortescue announced it got just that. Put together by WAE Technologies (until recently Williams Advanced Engineering), the system is simply breathtaking.
Described as “the largest battery of its kind,” the hardware is a 1.4 MWh piece (that’s 1,400 kWh, or about 24 times more than the battery capacity of a Tesla Model 3) that weighs 16 tons, is 3.6 meters (12 feet) long, 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) wide, and 2.4 meters (7.8 feet) high.
The battery is not one-piece, but comprises eight separate sub-packs. Each of the sub-packs is made up of 36 modules, each of them with its own cooling and management systems.
We’re not told for how long the battery will be able to power the T 264 truck, but a couple of other juicy details have been made public. One would be the fact that when plugged in, the battery can be fast charged in just 30 minutes – although, to be fair, we’re not told if that’s for the entire system or just one sub-pack. Another would be power regeneration, as the truck will be capable of generating energy as it drives downhill.
Fortescue said the battery arrived at its workshop in Perth, where it will be assembled and then installed on the mining truck. It will then head to Pilbara for real-world testing.
If successful, the electric mining beast will spawn an entire family of similar machines, which will be accompanied in the Fortescue fleet by hydrogen-powered haul trucks as well.
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