World's largest fleet of driverless mining trucks operate in North China

HOHHOT -- A fleet of 100 autonomous electric mining trucks has been put into operation at an open-pit mine in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, marking the largest-scale application of such vehicles globally.

Powered by a 5G-Advanced (5G-A) network, the fleet of Huaneng Ruichi trucks launched at the Yimin mine is China's latest move in transforming coal mining into an intelligent and green industry.

China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd. (China Huaneng), which operates the mine, said the vehicles are industry-leading by having the fastest operating speed of 50 kilometers per hour, being able to carry a load of 90 tonnes per truck and to operate continually in freezing minus 40 degrees Celsius.

At the colliery located in Hulun Buir city, the 100 trucks, developed jointly by China Huaneng, Huawei, Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co., Ltd. (XCMG) and a number of institutes, are working non-stop round-the-clock.

Liu Qiang, deputy director of the intelligent mine construction office of the mine, said that these all-electric mining trucks are expected to make mining safer, more environmentally friendly, and more efficient in winter when the local temperature can drop below minus 40 degrees Celsius.

In extremely cold weathers, frost on the glass of the mining truck's cabs used to plague winter operations in mining areas. With the assistance of lidar, millimeter-wave radar, cameras and AI algorithms, these unmanned mining trucks can stably perceive their surroundings in low-light, low-visibility conditions such as snow, sandstorms and at night, said Liu.

Moreover, each mining truck is equipped with a 564 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery pack. Notably, a single battery swap takes less than six minutes.

Shu Yingqiu, the mine manager, said the replacement of fossil-fueled vehicles by this electric fleet can help reduce diesel consumption by 15,000 tonnes and carbon dioxide emissions by 48,000 tonnes annually, which is equivalent to planting 2.6 million fir trees.

China Huaneng plans to gradually expand the scale of unmanned mining trucks at the Yimin mine to 300-500 units, and replicate this project in other mining areas such as Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The Yimin coal mine, covering 42.36 square km, has been verified to contain approximately 1.86 billion tonnes of coal, while China Huaneng boasts an annual production capacity of 35 million tonnes at this site.