BHP trials underground electric vehicles at Olympic Dam copper mine.
South Australian company Voltra has built a zero-emission underground mining vehicle its calling the Voltra eCruiser.
Using Toyota’s LandCruiser 70-Series as the base, the company replaced the combustion engine components with an electric drivetrain.
The conversion proved an engineering challenge according to Voltra, telling the media:
“As with any retrofit, the original equipment manufacturer didn’t design the vehicle with an EV conversion in mind. With some good computer aided design and well-known application requirements, the resulting kit is a simple and robust upgrade to the conventional combustion engine and driveline.”
Which is why BHP is now testing them at its Olympic Dam copper mine, part of their push on low emissions technology, and improving mine health & safety.
BHP will decide whether to expand the project at Olympic Dam and further locations in the next year after analysing performance results.
Voltra: https://www.voltra.net.au/ecruiser/
