Back in March, IM revealed that Chinese mining truck OEM Xiangtan Electric Manufacturing Co Ltd (XEMC) had signed a contract with energy company SPIC for conversion of a 108 t class SF31904 AC drive rigid truck to run on all electric lithium battery power in Huolinhe coal mine, Inner Mongolia. The truck has now been converted and rolled off the line at the XEMC factory in Xiangtan on June 23. The truck will now be shipped to the customer, and the site commissioning and testing will start soon.
The XEMC truck battery has a power rating of 1,575 kWh using LiFePO4 batteries from Chinese battery giant CATL but with this power the final truck also has a slightly higher payload capability of 120 t. The XEMC converted truck will be able to operate for an eight hour shift before charging and that charging would take one hour which would be done during the shift change. The company says that there have been major challenges, notably how to closely integrate the energy consumption from the battery pack with the vehicle control system via power management. Some detail was given in March on the charging infrastructure, with the charging station consisting of 4 x 5 sets of charging connectors where all 20 can be used for charging at the same time and with each truck having four charging ports. The charging station will be installed in a fixed place in the mine. The truck will be capable of climbing a maximum gradient of 17%. In the future the company also says it will look at battery swapping as a way to reduce charging downtime.
In a statement, XEMC said: “This product is a strategic product of XEMC in the electrification era of open-pit mine transportation; its appearance will lead the mining industry in a green, low-carbon, energy-saving, environmental protection direction of development, and shows China’s mining equipment global technical leadership.” Compared to the diesel truck, XEMC says energy consumption is reduced by 50%, operation and maintenance costs are reduced by 20% plus the vehicle reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 1,500 t per year.
In the process of R&D, XEMC says it has taken full advantage of “mechatronics,” integrated internal and external resources and conquered a number of key core technologies. It has successfully developed hub motors and electric drive control systems with full independent intellectual property rights. The energy management system has been developed jointly with well-known domestic battery enterprises including CATL. “Through the innovative breakthrough of various advanced technologies, the overall performance of the vehicle is significantly improved, the vehicle structure is simple, dynamic performance and braking performance is good, at the same time has high reliability, convenient maintenance, low noise, high comfort and other characteristics.”
XEMC adds it will also develop a new autonomous and driverless all electric alternating current drive electric mining truck that can be safely loaded front and rear. No firm timeline for this was released, however, the company did release an image showing how the machine might look.
