First Mode, the pioneering innovator and manufacturer of decarbonisation products for heavy industry, announced last week its acceptance as a participant of ICMM’s Innovation for Cleaner, Safer Vehicles (ICSV) initiative.
The selection makes First Mode the first new manufacturing participant of the Initiative since its establishment in 2018. Other members of the Initiative include many of the world’s largest mining companies, such as Anglo American, Rio Tinto, BHP, Freeport-McMoRan, Teck Resources, and more; vehicle manufacturers such as Komatsu, Caterpillar, Liebherr, Hitachi, and others; as well as technology suppliers. The ICSV initiative seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by enabling zero carbon solutions for mobile equipment at global scale by 2030 with the aim of full adoption by the industry by 2040, all within a collaborative, non-competitive space.
“We are honoured to join industry leaders in elevating innovation’s important role in decarbonisation,” said First Mode’s Chief Executive Officer, Julian Soles. “Collaborations created through the ICSV initiative are essential to advancing next-generation solutions that reduce and ultimately eliminate surface mining vehicle emissions.”
A typical heavy-haul mining truck burns about 1 million litres of diesel fuel per year and remains in continuous operation for 10-15 years. Across First Mode’s customer market, over 13,000 of these trucks are in global operation, releasing 35 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually – the equivalent emissions of 8 million passenger cars per year.
“As stewards of the minerals and metals that are critical to decarbonisation and sustainable development, our industry has a responsibility to lead from the front and minimise the impact of operations on the environment,” said ICMM’s Director of Innovation, Bryony Clear Hill. “We’re looking forward to First Mode joining our members and vehicle and technology supplier participants in accelerating the development of a new generation of zero emission mining vehicles whilst increasing the operational readiness of mine sites to be able to adopt these solutions at a faster pace.”
Key progress achieved to date by the ICSV initiative includes collaborations between vehicle manufacturers and mining companies to ensure interoperability across machine and charging systems. The widespread adoption of zero emission solutions at speed and scale has a greater chance for success with consistency across power systems for all equipment, irrespective of its manufacturer.
Additionally, over half a dozen member sites across Chile, operated by Codelco, Anglo American, Antofagasta Minerals and BHP, are making significant headway in introducing zero-emission solutions supported by advances in renewable electricity generation at site level or in combination with national green hydrogen plans. These infrastructure developments are allowing for trolley, battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles to be introduced in the region in the future. Similar collaborations are also underway across North America, Africa, Europe and Australia.
The Initiative’s advocacy efforts have also helped to trigger a ‘pull’ effect. Proactive engagement by ICMM members has prompted investors and governments to expedite research and development funds for zero emission solutions. Collaborations have been established to pilot breakthrough solutions at sites that have been deemed operationally ready for implementation.
This progress has been propelled by partnerships addressing critical bottlenecks hindering adoption of solutions, such as a collaboration between ICMM’s ICSV initiative and CharIN eV that is focused on overcoming the global challenge of charging interoperability. This aims to establish uniform requirements and standards to enable the charging interoperability of haul trucks from different suppliers at the same charging station. The partnership with CharIN evolved from the ‘Charge On Innovation Challenge’, serving as a platform for solution providers and technology innovators to collaborate with the mining industry. Nearly half of ICMM’s company members and almost all of ICSV’s mobile mining equipment manufacturers participated in this initiative, contributing to the development of novel battery-electric truck charging solutions that specifically address charging interoperability.
First Mode says it aims to be a key collaborator by providing expertise and insights to accelerate decarbonisation in the mining industry. Key to this effort is bridge technology, including First Mode’s low-risk modular Hybrid Electric Vehicle retrofit that requires no infrastructure changes, is already TCO positive, and uses regenerative braking to decrease an existing truck’s fuel use and carbon emissions by up to 25%.
It’s only been 10 months since First Mode started to develop a modular hybrid retrofit system for ultra-class mine haul trucks that it says will improve efficiency, save money, and reduce emissions. It adds it is just weeks away from releasing the commercial product.
This week, First Mode is installing its hybrid technology on a Komatsu 830E-1AC at the First Mode Proving Grounds in Centralia, Washington, USA to complete the qualification testing in a representative mining environment. This hybrid truck will then start a mine tour, helping miners understand how hybridisation will work for them and providing a frictionless first step on their electrification journey.