Rio Tinto and BHP collaborate on battery-electric haul truck trials in the Pilbara
May 26 2024 - 6:00PM
Business Wire
In an industry first, Rio Tinto and BHP 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.
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Komatsu battery-electric haul truck.
Credit: Komatsu
The two companies 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.
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.
As part of the collaboration, two Cat 793 haul trucks will be
trialled from the second half of 2024, and two Komatsu 930 haul
trucks tested from 2026 at mine sites in Western Australia’s
Pilbara region.
Caterpillar and Komatsu will each provide one truck each to both
BHP and Rio Tinto for these trials. BHP will trial the Caterpillar
trucks, while Rio Tinto will trial the Komatsu trucks. Outcomes of
the trials will be shared between BHP and Rio Tinto.
These trials represent the first stage of battery-electric haul
truck testing at BHP and Rio Tinto’s Pilbara operations.
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.
Rio Tinto Iron Ore Chief Executive Simon Trott said: “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.
“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.
“As we work to repower our Pilbara operations with renewable
energy, collaborations like this move us closer to solving the
shared challenge of decarbonising our operations, and meeting our
net zero commitments.”
BHP President Australia Geraldine Slattery said: “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.
“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.”
Note to editors
In 2021, Rio Tinto and BHP worked with both Caterpillar and
Komatsu to support the development and validation of their
prototype battery-electric haul trucks. The trucks included in
these trials are based on these prototypes.
Carbon emissions from diesel consumption in our mining equipment
and rail fleet accounted for 12% of Rio Tinto’s Scope 1 and 2
emissions in 2023.
Carbon emissions from the combustion of diesel accounted for
around 40% of BHP’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions in FY2020.
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