The Future?, page-1130

Gold miner looks to ditch diesel in W.A. battery electric vehicle trial

South African Gold Fields, one of the world’s largest gold mining firms, will trial two mining-specific battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from Swedish engineering company Sandvik at its St Ives operation in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields region.

Sandvik announced this week that it would partner with Gold Fields to trial its new LH518B 18- tonne BEV underground loader as well as an Artisan Z50 50-tonne BEV truck. Both vehicles will be put into service in the Hamlet North mine, part of the St Ives mine near Lake Lefroy.

More than just an effort to reduce operational emissions, both vehicles will also eliminate underground emissions that a diesel vehicle would pump into the enclosed space, while also significantly reducing heat and noise compared to the traditional diesel vehicles.

And using Sandvik’s AutoSwap self-swapping battery system, it will have the option to install fresh batteries in under six minutes for both the Z50 and LH518B – a significant advantage over fast-recharge battery vehicles in the mining context.

“We travelled around the world looking at different suppliers,” said Graeme Ovens, Gold Fields’ vice president of operations in Australia. “And we came to the conclusion that Sandvik was ahead of the market with their concepts and what they were doing.

“The machine won’t be parked for half an hour or 45 minutes while it charges. You can swap the battery in 6 minutes or less and keep the machine operating. Fast-recharge systems just can’t match the speed of changing the battery.

“One of the biggest benefits is no diesel fumes and a better working environment for the people underground,” Ovens added. “There’s less heat, less fumes, and it’s a quieter a machine than diesel.”

Sandvik claim that its LH518B is the most compact 18-tonne loader on the market and has been designed from the ground up around the company’s Artisan battery system and electric driveline.

The LH518B also uses lithium-iron phosphate chemistry (LiFePO4) batteries.

“Our expectation is that these battery electric vehicles will prove not only clean and reliable but that they will deliver extremely high levels of uptime,” Dawson said.

“If this trial is successful, and we believe it will be, then we will look at rolling this technology out to our remaining underground mines in Australia,” added Ovens.

“We have also had our South Deep mine in South Africa asking for this technology. They will be keeping a watchful eye on the results of the trial.”

“We’re also aiming to be fully automated and, hopefully, to get to a point where there will be nobody working underground. Everything will be either autonomous or operated from the surface.”


“Jet zero:” Rolls-Royce completes maiden flight of all-electric plane

British luxury automaker and engineering company Rolls-Royce says it has completed the maiden flight of its all-electric ‘Spirit of Innovation’ aircraft, boasting a powerful 400kW electric powertrain with what the company claims is “the most power-dense battery pack ever assembled for an aircraft.”

“We are focused on producing the technology breakthroughs society needs to decarbonise transport across air, land and sea, and capture the economic opportunity of the transition to net zero,” said Warren East, the CEO of Rolls-Royce.

“This is not only about breaking a world record; the advanced battery and propulsion technology developed for this programme has exciting applications for the Urban Air Mobility market and can help make ‘jet zero’ a reality.”

“The first flight of Rolls-Royce’s revolutionary Spirit of Innovation aircraft signals a huge step forward in the global transition to cleaner forms of flight,” added Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.

“This achievement, and the records we hope will follow, shows the UK remains right at the forefront of aerospace innovation.

The ‘Spirit of Innovation’ is also part of Rolls-Royce’s plans to offer customers a complete electric propulsion system platform, which can be used in either a commuter aircraft or an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

According to Rolls-Royce, the battery characteristics eVTOL air-taxis require are very similar to that being developed for the ‘Spirit of Innovation’.

Further, Rolls-Royce is working with airframer Tecnam and Widerøe, the largest regional airline in Scandinavia, to deliver an all-electric passenger aircraft for the company’s commuter market, which is planned to be ready for revenue service in 2026.

Telstra joins race to bring flying electric cars to the masses

Telstra Purple has joined forces with Airspeeder to help fast-track the electrification of flight, lending its tech services expertise to a global series of electric flying car races created by the world’s only performance electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) manufacturer.

The partnership, announced on Wednesday, will see Telstra Purple deliver the near real-time virtual race-control system required for the high-speed, close format, multi-vehicle circuit racing in the Airspeeder EXA series.

The Airspeeder EXA Series, which has been described as the Grand Prix of flying car racing, is slated to hold its first series of unmanned races later this year, after the success of the “historic” first flights of Alauda Aeronautics’ eVTOL near Adelaide in June.

Gala Electric Vehicle Event this Sunday

Australian Electric Vehicles Association is hosting an EV Experience event this Sunday 26^th September at Cleveland Showgrounds, Brisbane.

Starting at 10:00 am and lasting for four hours. Over 70 EVs have already registered.

We will have a coffee van starting early and the Touch Football Club will be opening their canteen.
Details from their Facebook page:

We invite you to our event to discover what owning and driving an EV is all about.

Our clubs exist to promote the uptake of electric vehicles and we believe putting our cars on display, offering test rides and being available to speak to EV owners is a fantastic way to engage with the community looking for information without the dealership sales pitch.

This unique EV event will showcase a wide variety of makes and models with a prominent show ‘n shine display that features production cars and cars that have been converted from petrol to electric.

There will be many different electric vehicle related stalls, from EV accessories to EV charging equipment, electric powered boat motors, electric bicycles, scooters, motorbikes, and lots of others.

For the adventurous types, there will be a large test ride area for the e-mobility products which is always popular.

If you would like to display your EV or are interested in hopping in an EV for a test ride, you can register your interest here:

https://www.giveitawhirl.co/evexperience2021