BELAZ is planning to work with a Canadian company to design an electric dump truck, according to a report from Belarus news agency BelTA.

In an interview with BelTA, Director General Piotr Parkhomchik said a document to design the battery-electric vehicle had been drawn up and BELAZ intended to get finance from the Canadian firm. He named the customer as steel and iron ore giant ArcelorMittal.

Parkhomchik also noted that battery longevity represented the main problem in designing such a dump truck, with current available solutions allowing trucks to run for three to four hours. “We need at least eight hours with 20-30 minutes of downtime for recharging,” he told BelTA.

“Mainly electric excavators are used in Russian quarries. Our competitors already make dump trucks powered by batteries for underground mining,” he added.