PERTH, Australia–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In an business first, Rio Tinto (NYSE:) and BHP will collaborate on the testing of enormous battery-electric haul truck expertise within the Pilbara, Western Australia, to speed up the potential for its future deployment.
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Komatsu (OTC:) battery-electric haul truck. Credit score: Komatsu
The 2 corporations will work with producers Caterpillar (NYSE:) and Komatsu to conduct impartial trials of their battery-electric haul vans, together with testing of battery, static and dynamic charging programs, to evaluate efficiency and productiveness within the Pilbara atmosphere.
The collaboration displays the person commitments comprised of BHP, Rio Tinto, Komatsu and Caterpillar to assist Rio Tinto and BHP’s shared ambition of internet zero operational greenhouse gasoline emissions by 2050.
As a part of the collaboration, two Cat 793 haul vans might be trialled from the second half of 2024, and two Komatsu 930 haul vans examined from 2026 at mine websites in Western Australia’s Pilbara area.
Caterpillar and Komatsu will every present one truck every to each BHP and Rio Tinto for these trials. BHP will trial the Caterpillar vans, whereas Rio Tinto will trial the Komatsu vans. Outcomes of the trials might be shared between BHP and Rio Tinto.
These trials signify the primary stage of battery-electric haul truck testing at BHP and Rio Tinto’s Pilbara operations.
Ongoing testing, growth and refinement of truck and battery design is anticipated with every producer. This may inform the method for testing a bigger variety of haul vans and the potential deployment of battery-electric haul truck fleets into every firm’s operations.
Rio Tinto Chief Government Simon Trott mentioned: This collaboration brings collectively two main international miners with two of the world’s greatest producers of haul vans to work on fixing the important problem of zero-emissions haulage.
There is no such thing as a clear path to internet zero with out zero-emissions haulage, so it is essential that we work collectively to get there as shortly and effectively as we will. Testing two sorts of battery-electric haul vans in Pilbara circumstances will present higher knowledge, and by combining our efforts with BHP we are going to speed up studying.
As we work to repower our Pilbara operations with renewable vitality, collaborations like this transfer us nearer to fixing the shared problem of decarbonising our operations, and assembly our internet zero commitments.
BHP President Australia Geraldine Slattery mentioned: Operational decarbonisation depends on breakthroughs in expertise and partnerships like this may assist drive our business ahead. We’re thrilled to work with Rio Tinto, Caterpillar and Komatsu on these trials.
Changing diesel as a gas supply requires us to develop an entire new operational ecosystem to encompass the fleet. We have to tackle the best way we plan our mines, function our haulage networks, and think about the extra security and operational concerns that these adjustments will carry. For this reason trials are so important to our success as we search to check and learn the way these new applied sciences will work in follow and combine into our mines.
We have already seen a step-change discount in Scope 1 and a pair of operational greenhouse gasoline emissions by means of switching a few of our provide to renewable electrical energy, and we want to construct on that progress by means of growth of battery-electric expertise to cut back diesel utilization throughout our operations.
Observe to editors
In 2021, Rio Tinto and BHP labored with each Caterpillar and Komatsu to assist the event and validation of their prototype battery-electric haul vans. The vans included in these trials are based mostly on these prototypes.
Carbon emissions from diesel consumption in our mining tools and rail fleet accounted for 12% of Rio Tinto’s Scope 1 and a pair of emissions in 2023.
Carbon emissions from the combustion of diesel accounted for round 40% of BHP’s Scope 1 and a pair of emissions in FY2020.
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