<
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240829-the-search-for-the-worlds-biggest-electric-vehicles>
"This is no golf cart. This is one of the biggest mining excavators in the
world. The clawed bucket it uses for tearing at mineral-laced rock is so big
that you could fit more than 3,000 footballs in it. The driver sits in a cab
roughly as high up as the roof on an average two-storey British house. And the
excavator's hefty caterpillar tracks alone are just shy of 3m (10ft) tall – and
about as long as a London bus.
It weighs 778 tonnes in total and you might be forgiven for thinking that this
beast, the PC8000-11 surface mining excavator made by Komatsu, could only run
on a fossil fuel like diesel. Surely such a behemoth demands all the raw, dirty
power of combustion to function? Well, there is a diesel model – but Komatsu
have recently brought out an electric equivalent. And it works just the same.
"We are not sacrificing performance when you go electric," says Thomas Jordan,
marketing manager at Komatsu Germany. While the diesel excavator guzzles more
than 400 litres (88 gallons) of fuel per hour, according to Komatsu, the
electric alternative relies instead on a chunky power cable – meaning the
vehicle itself produces zero emissions.
When comparing diesel and electric versions of the excavator used by one
Swedish customer, well-to-wheel emissions are 95% lower for the electric type,
according to Komatsu. This customer has access to electricity from nuclear and
hydro sources. Mining companies are increasingly interested in options like
this, says Jordan. "We see a trend for more electrification, that's definitely
the case."
BBC Future Planet recently went on a hunt for some of the biggest electric
vehicles in the world – by size and weight. There is no shortage of impressive
examples, from giant mining machines to trains and cargo ships."
Via
Fix the News:
https://fixthenews.com/living-beings/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
