Many cement manufacturers demonstrate their transition to a less carbon-intensive industry, in particular by working on reducing the rate of clinker. The Swiss-Swedish engineer and automation specialist ABB, for its part, worked on the issue of transport, through its client Nuh Ciment, a Turkish cement manufacturer. A diesel-powered transport truck has been converted into an electric vehicle, which represents a world first for a vehicle of this size and category.
Thanks to this retrofit operation, around 100,000 liters of diesel can be saved per year, or 245 tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided, according to ABB. This conversion, the amount of which has not been communicated, will also extend the life of the truck, 30 years of circulation on the clock. To operate it, ABB installed a battery, an air-cooled traction motor, an electronic vehicle control system, a battery thermal management system and a DC Fast charger, dedicated to electric vehicles.
The installation of this numerous pieces of equipment is linked to a particular use of the truck. In the Turkish Kocaeli-Körfez quarry, trucks descend via a ramp with an average slope of between 18 and 20%. “Regenerative braking allows the truck to recharge its battery during the descent and, once discharged, return to the top of the mine using only the previously regenerated electrical energy,” describes ABB.
Other trucks already transformed
This operation is not the first in the mining and quarrying sector for ABB. In January 2024, a fully electric dump truck prototype based on battery technology developed by the company was presented, in partnership with Hitachi Construction Machinery. When operating on flat ground, the truck is powered by its internal battery. When going uphill, an external power supply is used, while when going downhill, the truck recovers energy from regenerative braking to recharge its battery. The machine must be tested in the spring in a copper and gold mine located in Zambia.
In 2023, in South Africa, ABB also contributed to the testing of a transport truck powered by batteries and a hydrogen fuel cell, in a platinum mine in South Africa. “The mining environment presents a unique combination of high-power charging and discharging, continuous operation, and significant thermal management challenges”explained Krunal Desai, the director of electrical engineering at First Mode, a British company specializing in the energy transition of vehicles.
