Cooling System for Retrofitted Electric Mining Truck (EPCA-E100 project)

The Challenge 

Miners are electrifying haulage fleets as a key part of their decarbonisation strategies as diesel mining vehicles account for 30-80 per cent of direct emissions. It is estimated savings ed savings are 1,125 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year per electric vehicle (70L/hr x 6000hrs x 2.68kg/L).   

Consuming diesel is also costly to the miner. It’s estimated that each truck costs $112/hr ($1.60/L x 70L/hr), equating to $672,000 AUD (based on 6000 run hours per year). 

The key component of a battery electric truck is its batteries. WA’s hot and harsh mining environment presents a challenge as it’s likely to result in battery overheating, reducing battery life whilst increasing safety risks and downtime.   

The key technology that allows the battery to operate is the cooling system. Cooling of batteries is the key to green fleet development. This project solves the problem of overheating batteries by employing our unique cooling system, which will enable batteries to function efficiently in WA’s environment, leading to longer runtimes, higher reliability, and better performance.    

Proposed Solution 

EPCA’s research has highlighted that the cooling system has been the biggest single point of failure from previous Battery Electric Truck (BET) projects worldwide. The earlier projects did not have cooling primarily because the battery chemistry and packs did not require it or could not contain a cooling circuit. All lithium batteries need to be kept in the range of 20 to 35 degrees C, but WA’s mining environment is hot and dry, which poses a big problem/issue.  

EPCA’s research is testing the hypothesis that unique active cooling components used to cool batteries, motors and inverters together with the truck’s existing passive cooling components will prevent overheating, thereby enabling EPCA’s retrofitted electric trucks to withstand WA’s extreme temperatures to perform efficiently and reliably

Proposed Benefits to WA 

This project is funded under the MRIWA Mining Technology, Equipment and Services (METS) Innovation Program. It demonstrates industry-led research which aims to develop new products, companies and markets for the Western Australian mining and minerals sector.  

EPCA’s project is to design, implement, refine, and perfect the battery cooling circuit to operate in extreme temperatures, particularly in WA’s harsh mining environment.  Provision of a perfected cooling circuit will enable retrofitted electric mine truck systems to be delivered to the WA market quicker.