Electric trucks make mining safer in China

HOHHOT — A fleet of 100 autonomous electric mining trucks has been put into operation at an open-pit mine in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, marking the largest-scale application of such vehicles globally.

Powered by a 5G-Advanced network, the fleet of Huaneng Ruichi trucks launched at the Yimin mine is China's latest move in transforming coal mining into an intelligent and green industry.

China Huaneng Group, which operates the mine, said the vehicles are industry-leading by having the fastest operating speed of 50 kilometers per hour, and being able to carry a load of 90 metric tons per truck and operate continually in freezing-40 C.

At the colliery located in Hulunbuir city, the 100 trucks, developed jointly by China Huaneng, Huawei, Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group and a number of institutes, are working round-the-clock.

Liu Qiang, deputy director of the intelligent mine construction office of the mine, said that these all-electric mining trucks are expected to make mining safer, more environmentally friendly and more efficient in winter, when the local temperature can drop below-40 C.

In extremely cold weather, frost on the glass of the mining truck's cabs used to plague winter operations in mining areas. With the assistance of lidar, millimeterwave radar, cameras and AI algorithms, these unmanned mining trucks can stably perceive their surroundings in low-light, low-visibility conditions such as snow, sandstorms and at night, said Liu.

Moreover, each mining truck is equipped with a 564 kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate battery pack. Notably, a single battery swap takes less than six minutes.

Shu Yingqiu, who manages the mine, said the replacement of fossil-fueled vehicles by this electric fleet can help reduce diesel consumption by 15,000 tons and carbon dioxide emissions by 48,000 tons annually, which is equivalent to planting 2.6 million fir trees.

China Huaneng plans to gradually expand the scale of unmanned mining trucks at the Yimin mine to 300-500 units and replicate the project in other mining areas such as the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The Yimin coal mine, covering 42.36 square km, has been verified to contain approximately 1.86 billion tons of coal, while China Huaneng boasts an annual production capacity of 35 million tons at this site.

Xinhua