Fortescue gets $10m government grant to develop fast chargers for electric mining trucks
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The news: The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced a grant of $10 million to Fortescue for the mining giant to develop and build fast chargers for its electric heavy mine site vehicles.
The numbers: The company is developing 6 MW fast chargers it says will be capable of charging 240 tonne battery electric trucks in under 30 minutes, ARENA said in a statement. It has previously built a 3 MW prototype.
The context: Once developed, Fortescue will test the fast chargers at its Hazelmere and Christmas Creek mine sites in Western Australia.
“If the fast charger can be successfully validated at the operational Christmas Creek mine site, we’d like to see the technology widely deployed across Australia’s resources industry,” said ARENA CEO Darren Miller.
The government agency, which supports the transition to net zero emissions by accelerating the pace of pre-commercial innovation, says Australian iron ore mining produces roughly 5 million tonnes of CO2 each year due to fleet diesel consumption.
