Building on its highly successful line of underground utility vehicles, Kovatera™ has released its new battery-powered KT200e.

This addition to the Kovatera line continues the rough, tough and purpose-built lineage of its diesel versions. The KT200e is not an adapted, converted or modified vehicle, however. “It is purpose-built from the ground up using advanced technology and proven components resulting in a utility vehicle that outperforms the competition in all categories,” Kovatera says.

As part of a strategy to grow domestic and international sales, Industrial Fabrication Inc (IFI) of Lively, Ontario, Canada, launched the Kovatera brand for its line of underground mine utility vehicles in late 2019.

On the latest battery-powered release, Will Gove, General Manager of Kovatera, said: “We have recognised for some time that the demand for electric underground vehicles in the marketplace will continue to increase. But we did not want to stray from the philosophy that has been at the core of our success…building equipment from the ground-up that meets the demands of the challenging underground working environment.

“And, as with previous models, these utility vehicles offer three times the economic life and twice the payload capacity of other marketplace offerings.”

The KT200e, in keeping with previous models, offers a wide range of configurations to meet customer specifications ranging from personnel carriers to specific job applications such as scissor lifts, aerial booms and wide range of options that can be bolted to the chassis, Kovatera said.

“A major consideration was to ensure that this electric vehicle’s capability matches the requirements of the customer’s needs,” Gove said. “A major feature of our battery options is to fit vehicle with a standard 44 kWh battery. With this configuration, we can offer customers a battery size and range that fits their needs without additional capital spend. If a longer range is required, we also offer a battery upgrade that doubles that range – giving the customer a range of 50-90 km between charges.”

Battery life matches or exceeds the known economic life of the unit at seven to nine years, according to the company, while charge time from dead flat is around 1.5 hours with additional optional 25 kW 600 v on-board charger.

“For customers who now use our popular UT99 diesel models, we offer a retrofit kit to economically convert them to electric,” Gove said. “Either way, the customer benefits from our tested and proven chassis, components, configuration flexibility and service longevity that have made these utility vehicles an industry standard.”