Fortescue’s electric excavator has moved 1 million mt. (Photo: Fortescue)
Fortescue’s new electric excavator has moved 1 million metric tons (mt). “It’s performance continues to steadily improve with the excavator at times performing better than its diesel equivalent,” Fortescue said.
The unit, a Liebherr R 9400, operates “partially off solar” and is connected to a 6.6-kV substation by more than 2 km of high-voltage trailing cable, the company reported. It began service operating at partial capacity and more recently operates at full speed.
Fortescue said the development represents a significant milestone on the decarbonization journey. “Importantly, we’ve been able to achieve this while maintaining our high safety standards,” CEO Dino Otranto said. “We will have two additional electric excavators commissioned by the end of April,” he said. “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 mt of carbon dioxide equivalent.”
Fortescue also finished the first phase of testing for a 240-mt battery electric haul truck prototype. The truck “exceeded the performance expectations of the battery power system,” Otranto said. “This included laps around our testing track and ramp tests with hill starts, all while carrying 231 mt of iron ore.”
