EV mining truck hailed as NZ first

The first all-electric mining dump truck in New Zealand is operating at Blackhead Quarries’ Logan Point Quarry in Dunedin.

Rock is extracted and crushed near the summit and the TFT125 50 tonne EV truck takes it down a 1.7km track on about an average 9% slope to stock piles closer to the road, returning uphill empty and using about 5% of battery capacity, Auckland-based Landex Etrucks director Ross Linton says.

Running uphill the e-truck uses 201kW at about 20km/h, while descending with a load it regenerates 176kW at about 12km/h.

In early trials the battery regeneration achieved running downhill with a 30-tonne load is nearer 6% of battery capacity, Linton says.

On flatter carts and other duties around the quarry the regeneration is less, so overall the truck will still need charging, he adds.

“It’s not quite perpetual motion but a great result so far,” he says.

The truck had done 13 loads by lunchtime on January 29 for a battery loss of 2% – using about 4kWh or about $1 worth of electricity to move more than 350 tonnes.

Landex will also display its first four-wheel drive mini telehandler at the Southern Fieldays at Waimumu, Gore, on February 12-14.

Some of the most advanced autonomous road rollers in the world are now offered by XCMG, releasing the XS223S single drum.

Conventional rollers with autonomous ability are already working in China.

About 33 XCMG machines are working to establish a new hospital in Wuhan to help contain the coronavirus outbreak. The 1000 bed hospital is scheduled to open shortly.