EPCA, based in Perth, Western Australia, made its name with its electric Cat 777 100-tonne truck “Green Machine,” and now says it plans to produce more than 50 to 70 battery-electric mining trucks per year.
EPCA (Electric Power Conversion Australia) showed off its green machines at two major mining events in Australia recently and, according to a recent case study commissioned by one of its main suppliers, it has plans to produce 50 to 70 100-tonne battery-electric mining trucks per year.
There may also be demand.Switching the CAT from diesel to battery power increases the haul truck’s horsepower from 1,000 to 1,120 hp and torque from 4,700 Nm (3,400 lb ft) to 5,200 Nm (3,835 lb ft), with this torque increase occurring at 0 rpm.
The electrons that power these motors come from six 290 kWh Xerotech batteries running in parallel. Combined, the battery pack can store approximately 1740 kWh of energy, making it one of the largest vehicle batteries ever built.
Meanwhile, the EPCA team seems pretty proud of their new truck: EPCA chief engineer and founder Clayton Franklin says, “We’ve got a fully battery-electric mining truck with the highest energy density in the world, and our Australian mining clients are thrilled that it’s being built right here in Western Australia.”
With 5,500 mining trucks currently in operation in Australia (and over 55,000 in operation worldwide), finding buyers for 50-70 trucks per year seems quite feasible – the only question now is whether EPCA (or more accurately Xerotech) can manufacture them.
Electrek’s take
As we discussed in Quick Charge’s mining feature, mining is a perfect application for battery electric vehicles, and large electric vehicles like this model from EPCA and similar models from Caterpillar and Liebherr are filling the market nicely. That said, I think I’ve made these points well enough, so I’ll repost the video below and discuss the details in the comments. Enjoy!
Quick Charge Mining Episode
Source | Images: EPCA via International Mining, LinkedIn.
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