An EV Has Been Inducted In The Mining Industry For The First Time In India

Hindustan Zinc becomes the country’s first mining company to use a battery-powered mining vehicle

While electric vehicles have slowly started finding a place in people’s homes, they now seem to have caught the attention of the mining industry as well. Hindustan Zinc, an Indian mining company, has inducted a battery electric vehicle (BEV) into its fleet of mining vehicles, a first for the company and the industry alike.

Called the Normet Utimec MF 500 Transmixer SmartDrive EV, it has been deployed at the company’s Sindesar Khurd mine.

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It uses a 90kWh battery pack with a dual motor setup and four-wheel-drive for its operations and has an output of 272PS (combined). Normet’s BEV has a speed of 20kmph and can go for up to 30km. This battery pack can be refilled from nought to 80 per cent in up to 40 minutes using a fast DC charger. For reference, the Jaguar I-Pace uses a battery pack of the same capacity which offers a claimed range of 470km and its electric powertrain has a combined output of 400PS.

In India, the process of mining is one of the key contributors to air pollution, with a significant share coming from diesel-powered mining vehicles. The conversion of these vehicles into electric-powered ones, it is believed, will help in achieving zero emissions (decarbonisation) and lower operating costs.

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To work on this issue, Hindustan Zinc plans to introduce more of Normet’s SmartDrive electric mining vehicles to its fleet including an explosive charger and a concrete sprayer, both of which use the same 90kWh battery pack. The company also plans to convert all of its 900-odd diesel-powered mining vehicles into electric ones in the next five years with an investment of over USD 1 billion (~Rs 8,181 crore).