LOAD & HAUL
ELECTRIFICATION IS ESSENTIAL
A
s governments and corporations promote battery electrifi cation and EVs to achieve their decarbonisation and net-zero
commitments, the resultant surge in demand for the minerals to fulfi l this growing demand for batteries has global miners scratching their heads. T eir challenge? How can they dramatically increase output of minerals for batteries whilst meeting their own net-zero and decarbonisation targets, especially when the mining industry today
emits at least 68 million tonnes of CO2 per year from its diesel-fuelled haul trucks alone? T e logical solution is for the
electrifi cation of the mining industry itself, starting with the biggest contributor of carbon emissions – diesel-powered mobile plant, and more specifi cally, haul trucks. T e largest mining trucks require immense levels of power to traverse the challenging terrain of mine sites – think greater than 2MW continuous peak power to drive the
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Growing output while decarbonising: Ben Ting presents a new electrifi cation solution for the mining industry
motors (the motors of a typical Tesla 3 are rated around 211kW). Mining trucks also rarely ‘sit still’. T ey are used near-24/7 to meet mine productivity targets and they operate in some of the coldest, hottest, highest and deepest environments across the globe. In these extreme environments, the batteries on the market today would struggle to continuously deliver the power, energy and lifetime needed for a cost- eff ective electrifi cation of most mines. So although standard lithium ion batteries are currently a popular electrifi cation solution for passenger vehicles, improvements in lithium ion technology are required to achieve this same transition for mining trucks. Currently, a key concept being explored and trialled for mining, as a step toward electrifi cation, is ‘trolley assist’; diesel electric drive haul trucks receive the power to run the electric motors via catenary or overhead electric wire lines, which are constructed on haul roads of suitable
geometry and quality. Studies have shown that this can help reduce diesel use by up 90%, but only for mines that can ‘electrify’ a high percentage of their haul roads. Lithium-ion batteries using niche LTO anode chemistries are today’s best candidate for the tough mining operating conditions, off ering high power, fast charge, wide temperature range, long cycle life, excellent safety. However, this is only suitable again for mines that can ‘electrify’ a high percentage of haul roads. T is is due to the low energy density of LTO batteries, which limits the haul truck’s battery electric range.
BETTER BATTERIES What the mining industry needs to transform its operations are batteries that can match LTO’s high power, fast charge, wide temperature range, long cycle life and excellent safety, but with substantially higher energy density (up to 400Wh/L). Echion Technologies’ anode material, XNO delivers this solution. XNO is
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