IM 2020 April 20 | Page 77

HIGH PROFILE Connecting Global Competence OUR COMPETENCE, YOUR INNOVATION. XEMC 220 t truck operating in a Chinese coal mine bauma CHINA, Shanghai, SNIEC, November 24–27, 2020 Other ultraclass (including its 300 t model with have a QSK60 engine and GE AC electric drive) and smaller class XEMC units in China are generally fitted with Cummins engines. XEMC told IM that within China, Cummins has a very good sales and service network which was the main factor in choosing these engines. After the shipments to Australia, XEMC went on to build another 12 SF33901 trucks which are all still running with a Chinese coal mining customer but are rated at 220 t instead of 230 t and have Cummins QSK60 engines. Prior to the Australian order, some 56 of the 220 t class model had been built since launch in 2008. And the truck business is only part of the story as XEMC has also been successful in supplying truck bodies into the Australian market on quite a large scale to Rio Tinto Tom Price, RTCA and others for XEMC and other OEM trucks. The Chinese market Back in the Chinese market, XEMC is most known for its strong position in the 100 t mining truck market, with options for both AC and DC drive on its 108 t. These are equipped with a Cummins QST30 engine and in the past it has also used the KTA38 engine, also from Cummins. XEMC has the largest market share for electric drive 100 t trucks in the country and has supplied well over 800 units, all with its own in-house drive system. Competition comes from the mechanical drive NHL TR100 (91 t) and SANY SRT95 95 t model, also mechanical drive. Above this class and below the ultraclass, XEMC has also built the 136 t SF32600 model with GE drive, first developed for very cold operations in Russia. Then it has the 154 t model, the SF32601. XEMC trucks are found across China’s mining operations, from iron ore to coal to copper including in coal alone Xilinghaote coal mine, Baiyinhua No 4 coal mine and Shenhua Xinjiang’s Huidong coal mine. The Huolinhe coal mines, part of energy group SPIC, alone have 115 XEMC trucks. So why is the 100 t class truck so popular in China? Jimmy Ji, XEMC Director of Marketing & Sales, told IM: “A lot of it has to do with the mine set-up; the haul road quality and width, the capacity of the workshops, the existing excavator sizes. It just isn’t cost effective for these mines to scale up to ultraclass and the investment that would require in larger maintenance facilities, bigger shovels, bigger tyres. Aside from that the aftermarket cost of ultraclass trucks is much higher in terms of parts. The main change we have seen from our point of view is a change in demand from DC to AC drive for our 108 t trucks. This is related to maintenance, as for AC there is no longer a need to replace brushes every 3,000 hours.” XEMC is now delivering about 50 108 t SF31904 trucks per year but in the past deliveries were much higher. Part of this change is lower demand but this SHAPE THE INDUSTRY AND BE AN EXHIBITOR Apply now ! www.bauma-china.com