Rio Tinto will partner with China’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) to demonstrate battery swap electric haul truck technology.
The technology will be trialled at at Rio’s Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia, which is one of the largest copper and gold deposits in the world.
Battery swapping technology allows a battery electric vehicle to quickly exchange a discharged battery pack for a fully charged one, instead of recharging the vehicle at a static charging station.
The two-year project will involve eight 91-tonne payload mining haul trucks, 13 batteries at 800 kilowatts, and a robotic battery swap and charging station in non-production activities in the aboveground operations at Oyu Tolgoi.
Rio Tinto operates about 700 haul trucks across its global operations, 100 of which are classified as small or medium class (100–200 tonne payload).
“By partnering with the State Power Investment Corporation, we will be demonstrating the latest technology and innovation available in China and assessing its potential to help decarbonise our operations quickly and cost effectively,” Rio Tinto chief decarbonisation officer Jonathon McCarthy said.
“This demonstration will allow us to explore applications for battery swap technology that deliver more flexibility and less downtime than current static charging technologies.
“This work will complement the electrification pilots of ultra class mining haul trucks planned for the Pilbara.”
Each battery is expected to last up to eight hours, depending on the work performed, and the battery swap process takes around seven minutes, enabling increased use of the equipment through minimal charging downtime.
The first truck is ready to arrive at Oyu Tolgoi this year and the remaining seven trucks, along with the battery swap and charging infrastructure, will be in operation by mid-2025.
SPIC chair Han Zhiwei said the collaboration with Rio Tinto will bring leading green transportation innovations to the international market.
“We hope our low-carbon technologies will assist Rio Tinto in achieving its decarbonisation targets, and we look forward to continued cooperation between both parties to jointly promote the application of green energy,” he said.