Brazilian mining giant Vale said on Thursday it has partnered with Japan’s Komatsu and US-based Cummins to develop and test haul trucks powered by a mixture of ethanol and diesel.
The dual-fuel engines made by Cummins will be retrofitted to the mining company’s existing fleet of diesel-powered haul trucks, making them capable of using up to 70% ethanol and reducing direct CO2 emissions by up to 70%, Vale said in the release.
Among mining equipment, the haul truck is the biggest consumer of diesel and therefore the biggest emitter, added the release.
The haul trucks, manufactured by Komatsu, will have payloads of 230 to 290 tons.
“Removing a fossil fuel like diesel from our mine operations is fundamental to achieving our decarbonization targets”, said José Baltazar, engineering director for mine and plant operations at Vale.
Cummins, whose customers include Paccar, Daimler Truck Holding AG and Stellantis NV, has been ramping its spend on producing efficient truck engines as the industry comes under pressure to manufacture greener vehicles.
