BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- China has initiated the large-scale operation of its domestically developed 120-tonne pure-electric mining trucks in open-pit mines, marking a breakthrough in the country's green transformation of the mining industry.

A batch of 10 such trucks, equipped with cutting-edge battery and safety technologies, began full-service deployment this week in an open-pit coal mine owned by the State Power Investment Corporation Limited (SPIC) in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, slashing costs and carbon emissions while setting new benchmarks for efficiency, the Science and Technology Daily reported.

The trucks utilize lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries as their core power source, supported by high-voltage drive systems and advanced battery balancing and cooling technologies. Capable of operating for over five hours on a one-hour charge, each vehicle achieves a daily maximum output of 21,000 cubic meters -- comparable to traditional diesel trucks but with drastically reduced energy consumption, according to the report.

Liu Jingyu, head of the SPIC Zhaha Nur coal industry company, said that 10 traditional 100-tonne diesel trucks consume about 2,300 tonnes of fuel annually, costing roughly 18 million yuan (about 2.51 million U.S. dollars).

In contrast, an equivalent number of fully electric mining trucks has an annual electricity consumption of only about 10 million kilowatt-hours, cutting energy expenses to 6.5 million yuan, said Liu.

The trucks are also integrated with an indigenously developed "intelligent vehicle safety system," featuring collision warnings, real-time monitoring, overspeed alerts, and driver behavior analysis.

This system has significantly improved operational safety and management efficiency, allowing mining companies to dynamically optimize routes and prevent accidents, said Liu.

The 120-tonne model's success paves the way for the electrification of larger mining equipment, which are set to accelerate the green transformation in China's open-pit mining sector.

In the future, as technology continues to advance and costs decrease further, pure electric mining trucks are expected to become the mainstream choice in the mining industry, said the report. Enditem

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