BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale, three of the world’s biggest mining companies, have launched the Charge On Innovation Challenge, a global competition for technology innovators to develop new concepts for large-scale haul truck electrification systems to help significantly cut emissions from surface mine operations and unlock safety, productivity, and operational improvements.

The three are the Founding Patrons of the Challenge, in partnership with Australia’s Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) industry body Austmine. The Challenge is expected to attract additional interest from resource companies that maintain substantial haul truck fleets and are looking for innovative concepts to deliver electricity to large battery-electric haul trucks.

Current stationary charging systems require substantial time to charge large trucks, which would result in significant lost productivity. The mining industry needs multi-megawatt scale fast charging concepts capable of delivering around 400kWh to charge (and propel) a truck within the truck’s haul cycle (load, travel, dump, return, queue).

“METS and mining companies are united on the Challenge to reduce emissions across the supply chain,” Austmine chief executive Christine Gibbs Stewart says.

“With 80% of METS companies supplying products and services outside mining, the Challenge leverages the experience and innovation of industries in the automotive, battery makers, aerospace, defence and other sectors.

“We are confident that we will find a solution to the delivery of electricity to trucks in the complex operating environment of a large surface mine. We expect the Challenge will attract companies from a broad range of sectors including mining, automotive, aerospace, agriculture, and defence to deliver selected charging concepts to create a standard product that can interface with all trucks.”

BHP president Edgar Basto says the company expects the Challenge to stimulate innovative ideas: “Some of which could be immediately applied to existing diesel-electric equipment and help fast-track implementation of longer-term solutions. We understand that these challenges will not be solved overnight, but together we can find the best concepts that can be applied across the industry.”

Several non-traditional mining sector vendors are actively developing technologies that can be applied to mine electrification. The Challenge is expected to demonstrate an emerging market for charging solutions in mining, accelerate commercialisation of solutions, and integrate innovations from other industries into the mining sector.