Giant electric dump truck runs on rocks and gravity
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The world’s largest electric vehicle runs on rocks, and we're not talking about coal.
(eMining)
The eDumper is a gigantic battery-powered dump truck built by Swiss outfit eMining.
The 65-ton truck is powered by a 600 kilowatt-hour battery pack that has six times the capacity of any electric car on sale today and weighs 9,000 pounds.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(eMining)
But like most electric vehicles, when it needs to slow down it can turn its motors into generators that recharge the battery, and that’s where the rocks come in.
(eMining)
According to Green Car Reports, the truck is currently being used in a quarry in Biel, where it has to be driven up a hill to be filled with 45 tons of lime and marl, then back down to unload.
Thanks to the weight of the rocks, the truck generates enough energy fighting gravity to charge the battery pack to 88 percent on the way down and only needs 80 percent to get back up. By the end of a typical day, it has a 200-kilowatt hour surplus waiting to be used the next day.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(eMining)
For now, the eDumper is just a prototype that reportedly cost $1 million to build.