Planning the operation of Li-ion battery-powered trucks

This paper analyses the planning of operation for underground mining trucks powered by Lithium-ion batteries. Trucks supplied by the companies Epiroc and Sandvik are used as examples, comparing their characteristics with equivalent diesel-engine models. These trucks have similar payload capacities and dimensions, but significant differences in available energy, demonstrating that battery-powered trucks have substantially lower autonomy. The paper describes a method for estimating the autonomy of battery-powered trucks, considering motor efficiency, energy losses, and regenerative braking. A procedure is presented for determining the energy consumption for truck movement along a known route, considering the total resistance. It is demonstrated that the lower available energy of battery-powered trucks is a major factor necessitating a different approach to planning their operation in underground mining.