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Rio Tinto and BHP Collaborate on Battery-Electric Haul Truck Trials
Rio Tinto and BHP recently announced they will collaborate on the testing of large battery-electric haul truck technology in the Pilbara, Western Australia, to accelerate the potential for its future deployment. The collaboration reflects the individual commitments made from BHP, Rio Tinto, Komatsu and Caterpillar to support Rio Tinto and BHP’s shared ambition of net zero operational greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. They will work with manufacturers Caterpillar and Komatsu to conduct independent trials of their battery-electric haul trucks, including testing of battery, static and dynamic charging systems, to assess performance and productivity in the Pilbara environment. Caterpillar and Komatsu will each provide one truck each to both BHP and Rio Tinto for these trials. Outcomes of the trials will be shared between BHP and Rio Tinto. “This collaboration brings together two leading global miners with two of the world’s biggest manufacturers of haul trucks to work on solving the critical challenge of zero-emissions haulage," said Simon Trott, Rio Tinto Iron Ore Chief Executive.
“There is no clear path to net zero without zero-emissions haulage, so it’s important that we work together to get there as quickly and efficiently as we can. Testing two types of battery-electric haul trucks in Pilbara conditions will provide better data, and by combining our efforts with BHP we will accelerate learning. “Operational decarbonisation relies on breakthroughs in technology and partnerships like this will help drive our industry forward. We are thrilled to work with Rio Tinto, Caterpillar and Komatsu on these trials," said Geraldine Slattery, president BHP Australia. “Replacing diesel as a fuel source requires us to develop a whole new operational ecosystem to surround the fleet. We need to address the way we plan our mines, operate our haulage networks, and consider the additional safety and operational considerations that these changes will bring. This is why trials are so critical to our success as we seek to test and learn how these new technologies will work in practice and integrate into our mines. We’ve already seen a step-change reduction in Scope 1 and 2 operational greenhouse gas emissions through switching some of our supply to renewable electricity, and we are looking to build on that progress through development of battery-electric technology to reduce diesel usage across our operations.”
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Ongoing testing, development and refinement of truck and battery design is anticipated with each manufacturer. This will inform the approach for testing a larger number of haul trucks and the potential deployment of battery-electric haul truck fleets into each company’s operations.
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