[RM Motorsports]

This 110-tonne behemoth could be one of the greenest vehicles on the planet. The all-electric beast is powered by a 4.4-tonne battery with a capacity of 600 kWh. The Dumper is 30-feet long, 14-feet wide, 14-feet tall and weighs 45 tonnes when empty.

Reporting for duty at a quarry in Biel, Switzerland, this monster hauls 65 tonnes of ore up a gentle slope. Normally, a truck like this would guzzle up to 83,000 litres of fuel a year, pumping out up to 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) by its lonesome. A fleet of such trucks, as employed by various coal mines, iron ore mines and quarries around the world, generates thousands of tonnes of CO2 every year.

But not Elektro Dumper. The Elektro Dumper's source of seemingly "unlimited' power is unique to its function. The dumper is loaded up (with 65 tonnes of material) at the top of a hill. As it comes down, the vehicle only really needs to brake to avoid going very fast. Most of this braking regenerates electricity, and since the vehicle is so heavy, it generates a lot of electricity, which is stored in the batteries. After dumping its load, the much lighter Elektro goes back up the hill using the charge it gained while coming down, and because it's much lighter, it needs less power.

From testing, it appears that Elektro charges the batteries to about 88 percent while going down and consumes about 80 percent of the total charge when returning to the top. This means that the vehicle is generating about 10 percent surplus charge per trip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=sbPH5cTTBDs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLaZdxgaSvM

[KL01toKA03]

Looks like a perfect use case for electric vehicles. Requirement for a lot of torque while going up, and a chance to regenerate the battery charge using braking on the way down. Still, the people making the decisions deserve a huge round of applause for making the switch to electric.

[jayakumarkp]

Originally Posted by RM Motorsports

The dumper is loaded up (with 65 tonnes of material) at the top of a hill. As it comes down, the vehicle only really needs to brake to avoid going very fast. Most of this braking regenerates electricity, and since the vehicle is so heavy, it generates a lot of electricity, which is stored in the batteries. After dumping its load, the much lighter Elektro goes back up the hill using the charge it gained while coming down, and because it's much lighter, it needs less power.

From testing, it appears that Elektro charges the batteries to about 88 percent while going down and consumes about 80 percent of the total charge when returning to the top. This means that the vehicle is generating about 10 percent surplus charge per trip.

Amazing.
Just wondering how the performance would be when the loading is at below/down in the mine/pit and for unloading the truck will have to go back up full load.

[speedmiester]

Brilliant, this is an advantage of electric vehicles. The regenerative braking can add a lot of range if driven sensibly.
Basically the truck doesn't require any charging at all as it gaining all the power through regenerative braking.

[guru_max]

How does the huge 4.4 Ton battery affect the loading capacity of the vehicle and how important is it in the mining industry? I assume the powertrain of an e-dumper is a lot more heavy than your normal dumper.

[sunny310c]

This is just AWESOME. Brilliant use of technology and hats off the people who came up with this idea. Again, AWESOME!!!

[bigron]

This is so cool, practical, purposeful and the need of the hour.

Sooner or later this alternative technology will have to become mainstream for passenger vehicles.

[Chillout]

Superb idea and brilliant execution, hope we see lot more vehicles of this nature bring produced. Taking a leaf TTD which operates bus from Tirupathi to Tirumala, can operate a few buses that have good regeneration capabilities and make Tirumala more eco-friendly.

[jnanesh]

If it works in a mine then the hills shouldn't be an issue, wouldn't every hill station be able to have buses and mini trucks plying on the exact same principle. A bus from the hilltop to the closest drop off point on the plains. I'm sure they could save a huge amount of fuel that way, and would be economical for the goods carriers and locals who travel on a regular basis. Considering going uphill with a heavy payload would consume a large amount of fuel.

[car love]

The Irony!! Digging up the earth for its non renewable resources, with a clean energy vehicle...

[gauravanekar]

This is too good. I've seen that most of the mines are way below ground level and material needs to be moved from lower level to higher level. That's when the weakness of this electric vehicle will come out.