IM 2017 August 17 | Page 79

HIGH PROFILE

Yes, there is an increased awareness about our possibilities throughout the industry.

Q Does the truck have to be completely rebuilt to make room for the battery?

The first vehicle is a complete rebuild of a Komatsu HD605 using the space of the diesel engine and the diesel tank for the batteries and the electric motor.

Q Why has this not already been done in the mining industry on trucks in your opinion, especially as diesel electric and trolley technology, and wheel loaders using energy feedback is already widely used? Has it been limited by size and quality of batteries?

There are several reasons, certainly size and quality of the batteries is one of them. With the technological possibilities we have today, we can clearly prove that the TCO of the eDumper truck is below the conventional machine. Therefore, it makes sense to go for an eDumper for two reasons: one is to lower the total cost of ownership during the lifetime of the machine and the other is to take into account environmental aspects. We do not burn any fuel, the unit is CO 2 neutral and therefore there are no CO 2 taxes on the operation. Another big advantage, especially in urban areas, is the extreme low noise level.

The 700 KWh capacity batteries are capable of handling currents up to 3,000 amperes. During each of the 20 downhill runs, the batteries are charged by 40 KWh, making the vehicle a net electricity exporter or Plus Energy vehicle

Q What special components are needed aside from the battery itself? What challenges have you faced and what is the development timeline?

There are different new components needed: n Charging and de-charging station n A total new powerline n A new cockpit with information about the batteries’ charge cycle etc. You can compare the differences as with an electric powered car to a fuel powered car. We have until now not faced any big issues with testing and measuring, this especially thanks to our several partners including universities. As we use the continuous improvement approach, we are doing the testing directly in our production process. The homologation( CE certificate) will be made in the coming weeks.

Q Please outline the potential for the technology in the mining industry? Is it limited to smaller mining trucks with available battery sizes?

As the environmental issues are getting bigger and bigger, I personally see a huge potential in e-technology in general. As already mentioned, the TCO costs and therefore also the costs per transported tonne are lower than a conventional unit. Regarding these two points, I see a really high potential for this product. In fact we are thinking about much bigger units and we developed already quite interesting plans for these big machines. IM

13

th International Mineral Processing Conference 4 th International Seminar on Geometallurgy

OCTOBER 4 ~ 6

hotel grand hyatt santiago, chile

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION UNTIL AUGUST 4 executive committee

organizers sponsors

AUGUST 2017 | International Mining 77