WORLD PROSPECTS
China’s Weichai & CRRC Yongji complete FCEV mining truck
Leading Chinese autonomous mining vehicle
technology group TAGE Idriver (also see the
detailed interview with the company's
management in this issue starting page 53)
announced the signing of a new deal on April 8
with leading domestic mining truck manufacturer,
Baotou-based Inner Mongolia North Hauler Joint
Stock Co Ltd (NHL) to partner on the supply a new
fleet of 10 factory built autonomous electric drive
NTE200AT 186 t class mining trucks. The deal is
significant as up to now, TAGE Idriver has mainly
While all eyes in the mining market are
currently on Anglo American’s fuel cell
electric vehicle (FCEV) 290 ton mining
truck which is being developed with Williams
Advanced Engineering, with hydrogen fuel cells
from Ballard Power Systems and first trials still set
for this year, it was actually last December 2019
when China’s leading large engines manufacturer
Weichai Power announced that the first domestic
FCEV for mining, a 200 ton hydrogen fuel-lithium
battery mixed energy mining truck, had been
completed together with CRRC Yongji, with the
truck itself then revealed for the first time to the
public in January this year. The truck was
assembled at the Weichai factory in Yangzhou.
The truck project was also supported by the China
Hydrogen Alliance and the National Energy Group,
with the truck itself and core control system provided
by CRRC Yongji. CRRC is itself a major domestic
mining truck OEM and recently launched its CR240E
240 ton electric drive truck via division CRRC Datong
though the parent company CRRC is mainly known
for its leading position in the rail industry including
supplying China’s high speed trains.
CRRC Yongji started to develop the new electric
energy trucks with Weichai Group in April 2019, and
replaced the traditional diesel generator system
with a hydrogen fuel cell-lithium battery hybrid
energy system. The control system uses a stepdown
chopping method, driving the motor power
up to 1,100 kW, with traction and braking functions,
anti-skid during operation (anti-spin), with
maximum speed control, differential control,
running status detection and display, overvoltage,
overcurrent, grounding and other protection.
In addition to the advantages of energy saving
and emission reduction, the replacement of a diesel
heavy truck with hydrogen energy the companies
argue is also more cost-effective in terms of use
cost. Based on 45 round trips per vehicle per day, a
been involved with retrofitting autonomous
solutions onto existing fleets, whereas this tie-up
sees it working with NHL on a new truck fleet.
The fleet is to be used as part of an intelligent
mine project of China’s State Power Investment
Corporation (SPIC), a major national energy
producer operating a number of coal mines
including three 10 Mt/y open pit mines in Huolinhe,
Inner Mongolia, namely the South Coal Mine, the
North Coal Mine and the Zhahanur Coal Mine. SPIC
has already trialled two retrofitted autonomous
vehicle can save 20 t of fuel per day, which is
equivalent to saving 21,739 litres of diesel (1 litre
equals 0.92 kg). Calculated on the basis of saving
one litre of diesel and reducing 2.63 kg of carbon
dioxide, it is equivalent to reducing 57,174 kg of
carbon dioxide emissions (about 57 t) per vehicle
per day, so has a significant energy saving effect.
Weichai told IM that is now talking to mining groups
in the region about setting up hydrogen infrastructure
to enable trialling of the machine to commence.
www.en.weichai.com; www.crrcgc.cc/yjdjen
NHL and TAGE Idriver collaborating on 186 t auto truck fleet
XEMC 108 t SF31904 dump trucks developed with
TAGE Idriver at its operations.
TAGE Idriver said the new unmanned mining
fleet shows that the commercial application of its
unmanned driving technology has reached a new
level, and it also proves that the era of unmanned
transportation in open-pit mines in China is coming.
NHL is China’s largest mining truck manufacturer,
with over 80% of the domestic market share; while
Tage Idriver is a leading company in the field of
unmanned transportation systems in China’s
mining industry. As early as July 2018, the two
parties signed a strategic cooperation agreement,
and in August of the same year, successfully
completed a field test for the closed-loop operation
of an unmanned mine truck. In 2019, TAGE Idriver
then began cooperating further with NHL and they
jointly developed a number of retrofitted
unmanned mining units of 170 t class, which are
now being used in the Baosteel Baiyun Obo iron
ore mine. Currently, a fleet of four unmanned
mining trucks are working with two electric shovels
at the operation. For its part, NHL has also
developed its own factory built NTE120AT 110 t
autonomous mining truck.
TAGE Idriver and NHL say they are now jointly
promoting the unmanned mining vehicles in openpit
mines and the acceleration of the construction
of smart mines based on the principle of
“complementary advantages, resource sharing, and
common development.”
www.i-tage.com; www.en.chinanhl.com
4 International Mining | JUNE 2020