The new Sandvik Mining LH514BE, when launched, will offer a solution adding more flexibility to the traditional tethered loaders. The LH514BE gets its power from the electric cable during normal operation, but it uses its battery for relocating to another production area. The battery also gives an extra boost to ramp speeds, which traditionally have been the weak spot of electric loaders, as they have been designed for level applications.

The LH514BE naturally features the traditional positives of electric loaders: zero exhaust emissions, less noise and less heat compared to combustion engines. Sandvik told IM: “Further, we can think that the LH514BE is a battery-boosted loader which never needs charging time for its battery as it is continuously recharged during mucking, connected to the mine electric network. The LH514BE is very well suited for applications where the loader needs to be easy to relocate from one operating area to another, and where there is just one loader operating at a time.”

Sandvik says the LH514BE is still under development, preparing for thorough field tests at a customer operation. “The purpose of the field tests is of course to ensure the technology is working as intended, but additionally to allow the customer to provide feedback on the test unit that could be taken into consideration in product development. As the new model strongly relies on the proven LH514E, the basic technology is already well-proven. To serve the current LH514E users and enable equipment upgrades, a retrofit kit will also be made available for converting the existing LH514E loaders to battery-assisted LH514BEs.”