BATTERY AND ELECTRIC MACHINES
22
Start me up
Electrification euphoria has eased in recent years, but the industry knows it will have to leverage new fleet-based technology to achieve its decarbonisation goals, Dan Gleeson says
“ The talk about reducing emissions has not quietened down, but there is a growing requirement to ensure that the business case needs to align with the emissions reduction benefits,” Fabiana Cavalcante, Global Head of Mobile e-Power at ABB’ s Traction division told IM recently.“ The solution, at worst, must match current productivity levels.”
ABB, with an establish portfolio of electrification solutions – inverters, motors, drives, etc – under its eMine™ portfolio, is better prepared than most providers on the market when it comes to electrifying equipment.
Off-board, it also has the eMine Trolley System for both surface and underground mine electrification projects, plus the eMine FastCharge battery charging solution – complemented by an automated connection device – to complete the loop.
Cavalcante, speaking to IM at the bauma 2025 event in Munich, Germany, in early April, said the ambitions around electrifying equipment and sites have not changed since the company introduced its eMine platform in 2021, but the industry approach has.
“ Everyone knows the energy transition needs to start now,” she said.“ There is no turning back from this.
“ We are working with our clients – all of whom are at various points of this transition – to bring them to their end goals in as seamless and staged a process as possible.”
In Germany, the company was showcasing a new, next-generation battery system for heavy-duty electric vehicles to help with this.
These batteries, under the Pro Battery Series, are compact and lightweight in design and offer high safety and extended lifetime, according to the company.
Cavalcante was expecting the up to 400 kW battery to be used in hybrid
vehicle applications, as opposed to fullyelectric ones, indicating that this energy hybridisation setup was benefitting from greater industry demand.
“ These hybrid systems provide the energy efficiency and emission reduction gains clients require today as part of the energy transition without having to make major changes to the way they do business,” she said.
Benefitting from LTO battery chemistry and a“ cell to pack” approach that reduces
Benefitting from LTO battery chemistry and a“ cell to pack” approach that reduces both the weight and size of the battery pack to be fitted on existing vehicles, the new Pro 10C series of battery packs have been designed specifically for transportation applications with demanding requirements, ABB says
both the weight and size of the battery pack to be fitted on existing vehicles, the new Pro 10C series of battery packs have been designed specifically for transportation applications with demanding requirements, such as rail, electrical bus and off-road vehicles.
ABB’ s eMine Sales Manager, Ratna Kanth Dittakavi, explained that there were other‘ hybrid’ options the company was working on with clients to ensure they reached their longer-dated 2030 and 2035 emission reduction goals.
“ Fortescue Zero’ s technology has been tailored for heavy industry and designed for use in rugged, highperformance environments,” a company spokesperson said
“ Clients that are, today, investing in trolley solutions know that the sunken costs for the infrastructure – substations and the like – will continue to pay off for them when they decide to replace the‘ diesel’ part of their‘ diesel-electric’ solution with a battery or other power source,” he told IM.
“ This is where our modular approach to trolley pays off, allowing clients to reorient the trolley segments when the operation transitions to, for example, mining a new orebody.”
Dittakavi also hinted that trolley solutions that mining companies invested in today would still prove beneficial – from a reusability and repurposing perspective – for any new future development solutions, such as“ side rail” systems.
“ We, at ABB, are ensuring any investment made today continues to bear fruit for our customers in any electrified future,” he said.“ The message today is you need to start investing in the energy transition. Any order made today will – best-case scenario – result in a trolley line being delivered in the middle of 2027. The same is the case for Fabiana and her team: any battery ordered today will not be delivered for two years
“ These timelines mean decisions need to be accelerated or we will miss those goals.”
Standardisation on electrification infrastructure – similar to what has happened with CCS and MCS on battery charging – would help here, according to Cavalcante and Dittakavi.
“ Creating these standards will give customers comfort in any investment they make today,” Cavalcante said.“ It will be similar to what we have had in the industrial automation marketplace for many years.”
Cummins’ multiple technology pathways
Cummins is also backing this hybridisation drive as evidenced by its recently announced acquisition of assets belonging to First Mode, a leader in retrofit hybrid solutions for mining and rail operations.
The acquisition, announced earlier this year, includes hybrid mining and rail product lines, and the full IP portfolio which includes hydrogen and battery powertrain solutions.
Cummins says this technology“ represents the first commercially available retrofit hybrid system for mining equipment, significantly reducing total cost of ownership while advancing decarbonisation in operations”.
International Mining | MAY 2025