This massive Liebherr electric excavator reached a serious operational milestone earlier this month when it moved its one millionth tonne of dirt. And now, its buyers want more!
That’s right, gang – since we first covered the converted mining excavator back in January it’s been hard at work. And now, after its initial 90 day “break-in” period operating at partial capability while the positioning team familiarized themselves with the brand new tech, it’s operating at full speed at Fortescue’s Christmas Creek mine in Western Australia.
The Liebherr is working so well, in actual fact, that Fortescue is planning on order two more examples of the mighty electric earth-mover.
“This is such an exciting milestone for Fortescue and our decarbonisation journey. Importantly, we’ve been able to achieve this while maintaining our high safety standards,” says Fortescue Metals CEO, Dino Otranto. “We will have two additional electric excavators commissioned by the end of April. Once we decarbonize our entire fleet, around 95 million liters of diesel will be removed from our operations every year, or more than a quarter of a million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.”
Big work needs big power
Moving more than a million tons of earth and rock takes quite a lot of energy. To keep its batteries topped off, the re-powered Liebherr R 9400 E electric excavator operates off mix of renewable solar energy and a 6.6 kV substation pumping electrons through more than two kilometers of high voltage trailing cable.
Eventually, though, Fortescue plans to power its equipment completely from sustainable sources. “In line with our commitment to eliminate emissions across our mining operations,” reads the corporate’s statement. “The intention is that all electrified mining equipment will eventually be 100 per cent powered by renewable electricity.”
Electrek’s Take
Covering an electric pilot program is all the time fun, but all too often the outcomes of those initial experiments aren’t publicized – or else, don’t directly result in sales. To their credit, Liebherr is lucky to have a customer in Fortescue that’s willing to place their cards on the table here, trumpeting the re-powered excavator’s success and even announcing its plans to order two more electric machines publicly.
They won’t should wait long, either. Because Liebherr takes a modular approach to constructing its larger mining equipment, a diesel-drive excavator just like the R 9400 could be completely re-powered to electric in a matter of weeks.
Credit : electrek.co