In a bid to electrify the mining truck segment, the Swiss division of machinery manufacturer Kuhn converted a diesel-powered truck to run on electricity. They put the behemoth to work in a quarry located on the outskirts of Biel, Switzerland. Called Elektro Dumper - eDumper for short, the truck has become the largest electric vehicle in the world. The eDumper started as a Komatsu HD 605 feet powered by a mammoth of a straight-six turbo diesel engine with 23.1 litres of displacement.
According to Green Car Reports, it is 30 feet long, 14 feet wide, and 14 feet tall. Tyres are six feet high, and the dump bed reaches to more than 28 feet when fully raised fully. Kuhn Schweitz removed the six-cylinder and replaced it with motors that draw electricity from a 9,000 pound, 600-kilowatt-hour battery pack from Lithium Storage. The pack works with regenerative braking technology to give the eDumper an infinite driving range.
The 45-ton eDumper ascends a 13-per cent incline to pick up the 65 tons of ore it needs to bring to a nearby cement factory, Green Car Reports said. It's so heavy that when it drives down that its regenerative braking system generates more than enough energy to refill the charge the eDumper used going up. Formula E driver Lucas DiGrassi recently visited the eDumper's first-story cab. He reported reaching the top of the grade 80 per cent, then recovering battery charge to 88 per cent on the way down.
Marking that trip around 20 times a day, Kuhn explains the eDumper produces 200 kWh of surplus energy every day, or 77 megawatt-hours a year. Kuhn's eMining division is taking orders for the eDumper. The standard, diesel-powered model is priced well into the six digits.
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