Rio Tinto $RIO (-2,02 %)
$RIO (-2,05 %) in collaboration with China's State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) Qiyuan, has launched a pioneering test run of battery-powered electric dump trucks at the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia.
This is Rio Tinto's first use of battery-powered electric dump trucks in open-pit mining and a significant step towards reducing emissions from its transportation fleet - one of the largest contributors to Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, the company said in a statement.
Last year, the companies delivered and installed a fleet of eight 91-ton Tonly electric dump trucks equipped with 13 high-performance batteries (800 kWh each), a battery exchange station, a stationary charger and the necessary infrastructure.
These trucks will be used for tailings pond construction and topsoil transportation and will give Rio Tinto direct operational experience with battery-powered electric vehicles and battery swap charging systems.
The battery swap technology allows an empty battery to be replaced in less than seven minutes, eliminating the need for lengthy charging at fixed stations. This approach significantly reduces downtime and improves fleet efficiency.
The trial will continue until the end of 2026 and will allow Rio Tinto to assess the feasibility of a wider roll-out across its global fleet of 700 dump trucks. Around 100 of these are small to medium sized vehicles (100-200 tons payload) that are well suited to current generation battery swap systems.
