200-tonne pure electric mining dump vehicle put into use

A 200-tonne pure electric mining dump truck has been put into service in a coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province to assist with industrial upgrading in this major coal-producing region.

The vehicle can transport raw coal continuously for six hours on average per charge and is being used in the Anjialing Coal Mine operated by ChinaCoal Pingshuo Group Co., Ltd.

By replacing traditional vehicles fueled by oil with this electric model, the mining operation can reduce fuel oil consumption by 600 tonnes a year in the open pit mine, while cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 1,800 tonnes annually in the mining area.

The developer and producer of the truck, the Hunan Xiangdian Green Energy Intelligent Control Co., Ltd., is a manufacturer of electric trucks and electric locomotives used for mining in China.

Ji Wei, general manager of the company, said that compared with a traditional 220-tonne fuel truck that consumes about 4,000 liters of fuel per day of work, the pure electric vehicle uses about 12,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a day -- which means a reduction of 40 percent in costs for the mining operator.

The mining company is intending to purchase more such electric mining vehicles to further reduce energy consumption in its mining activities.

Coal output in Shanxi, China's largest coal-producing region, accounted for about 26.9 percent of China's total output during the January-September period of 2024, according to the provincial statistics bureau.

Over the years, Shanxi has continued to upgrade its coal industry. In 2023, the province established 118 intelligent coal mines and introduced smart technology to 1,491 mining faces.