BEV Fleet Transition, Pros and Cons

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) in mining may seem like a novelty but René Valle, Country Manager of MacLean Engineering, says BEVs have simply been overlooked. “Tethered electric equipment has been in the market for some time but high-density battery electric equipment was not very developed before,” he says. “Today, the Mexican market is ready to embrace this technology and we are happy to see that the industry is beginning to consider the benefits of an BEV transition.”
Valle says that the industry simply needs to receive better information regarding the pros and cons of BEVs. “Mexican mining is not digging into the BEV fleet transition yet as it still fears change, mainly rooted in mistrust and a lack of knowledge about new technologies,” he explains. “Some companies already have some electric equipment and others are starting to ask around about it but none is considering going fully electric.” For those looking for reasons to give electric equipment a chance, MacLean’s work with Newmont Goldcorp best illustrates the benefits of betting on this transition. “We started to develop our BEV solutions at Goldcorp’s Borden project in Canada, which completed its development phase using an almost entirely electrified fleet except for haul trucks. Goldcorp wanted to create a silent, invisible and green mine of the future where diesel-free mobile mining vehicles were a key component. “Battery electric vehicles deliver low-heat, low-noise, low-maintenance, emissions-free operations, so they check all the boxes for what the mining company was looking to achieve with this landmark underground mining project,” Valle says.