Anglo-American Introduces World's First Hydrogen-Powered Truck

Anglo-American, a British multinational mining company, announced the introduction of a hydrogen-powered truck, which the company claims to be the largest hydrogen-powered mining truck in the world. The massive mining truck is powered by a 2MW hydrogen-fueled electric engine and can transport loads of up to 290 tons.

The company said the 210-ton truck includes hydrogen-fuel cells that create 2MW of electrical power. This beast used to be a Komatsu 930E with a diesel-electric powertrain, but it has changed into a monster that can pull about 300 tons.

The vehicle is part of Anglo American's nuGen Zero Emission Haulage Solution (ZEHS), which is described as "a fully integrated green hydrogen system, consisting of production, fueling, and haulage, with green hydrogen produced at the mine site"—the Mogalakwena platinum mine in Limpopo, South Africa.

"As the haul-truck system uses multiple fuel cells that deliver up to 800kW of power, combining to deliver a total of 2MW of power," the company said it worked with some of the world's leading creative engineering and technology companies, including ENGIE, First Mode, Ballard, and NPROXX, to design, build, and test a 1.2MWh battery pack.

It has also built a hydrogen production, storage, and refuelling complex at Mogalakwena, the world's largest open-pit platinum mine. This complex includes Africa's largest electrolyser and a solar plant to help haul trucks work.

Anglo-American chief executive Duncan Wanblad said:

"This is an important step on our pathway to carbon-neutral operations by 2040. The mining industry is playing a considerable role in helping the world decarbonise, both through our own emissions footprint and the metals and minerals that we produce that is critical to low carbon energy and transport systems."

“Over the next several years, we envisage converting or replacing our current fleet of diesel-powered trucks with this zero-emission haulage system, fuelled with green hydrogen. If this pilot is successful, we could remove up to 80% of diesel emissions at our open-pit mines by rolling this technology across our global fleet.”

Source: Asia financial