CanmetMINING battery electric vehicle field test series: Relay utility vehicle

ABSTRACT

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have been used increasingly in Canadian mines to replace conventional internal combustion engine vehicles due to their high efficiency, low heat production, and zero emissions locally. To help understand BEV technology, performance, and energy consumed under different work conditions, CanmetMINING and CanmetENERGY conducted a series of tests on the Miller Technology Relay BEV at Vale’s North Mine site in Ontario, Canada. The 1.25-km test route comprises uphill and downhill sections with flat (0%), 5%, 10%, and 20% inclination grades. The BEV was driven through the route in both directions to complete multiple 2.5-km laps at 5 and 15 km/h while loaded and empty. This paper presents test results normalized by distance, including energy consumed and captured tabulated by inclination grade, speed, and load. The consumed and captured energy ranged from −1.4 to 4.5 kWh/km at 5 km/h and from −2.0 to 3.7 kWh/km at 15 km/h. The battery charging data and variation in state of charge are also presented to describe the energy balance during BEV operation. A vehicle energy model calibrated against the field test data was used to estimate the energy consumption of a utility BEV operated in an underground mine.

RÉSUMÉ

Les véhicules électriques à batterie (VEB) sont de plus en plus utilisés dans les mines canadiennes pour remplacer les véhicules conventionnels à moteur à combustion interne en raison de leur grande efficacité, de leur faible production de chaleur et de l’absence d’émissions au niveau local. Afin de mieux comprendre la technologie, la performance et la consommation d’énergie des VEB dans différentes conditions de travail, CanmetMINES et CanmetÉNERGIE ont effectué une série d’essais sur le VEB Miller Technology Relay sur le site de la mine North de Vale, en Ontario, au Canada. L’itinéraire d’essai de 1,25 km comprend des sections en montée et en descente avec des pentes plates (0 %), de 5 %, 10 % et 20 %. Le VEB a été conduit sur l’itinéraire dans les deux sens pour effectuer plusieurs tours de 2,5 km à 5 et 15 km/h, en charge et à vide. Cet article présente les résultats des essais normalisés en fonction de la distance, y compris l’énergie consommée et capturée en fonction de la pente, de la vitesse et de la charge. Les valeurs d’énergie consommée et capturée varient de -1,4 à 4,5 kWh/km à 5 km/h et de -2,0 à 3,7 kWh/km à 15 km/h. Les données de charge de la batterie et la variation de l’état de charge sont également présentées pour décrire le bilan énergétique pendant le fonctionnement du VEB. Un modéle énergétique du véhicule étalonné en fonction des données des essais sur le terrain a été utilisé pour estimer la consommation d’énergie d’un VEB utilitaire utilisé dans une mine souterraine.

KEYWORDS:

• Battery electric vehicle (BEV),Charging, energy captured, Energy consumed, Light-duty utility mobile equipment, Mining vehicle, Regenerative braking

MOTS-CLÉS:

• chargement, énergie capturée, énergie consommée, équipement mobile utilitaire léger, freinage par récupération, véhicule électrique à batterie (VEB), véhicule minier

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

An earlier draft of this paper was published in the Proceedings of the Mining Diesel Emissions Council Conference, MDEC 2022, prior to undergoing the CIM Journal peer-review process.

REVIEW STATEMENT

Paper reviewed and approved for publication by the Maintenance, Engineering and Reliability Society of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.

ETHICS APPROVAL AND CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE

There are no ethical issues associated with this manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

G. Li

Gary Li is a mine ventilation/modeling specialist at NRCan-CanmetMINING and works on mine ventilation analysis and equipment energy assessment. Gary holds a Master’s degree and a PhD degree in Civil Engineering. He has over 20 years’ experience in research projects focused on ventilation-on-demand, mine energy and ventilation network assessment, and rock mechanics.

J. Le

Nam (John) Le is a senior engineer with NRCan-CanmetMINING. He is a professional engineer who has over 15 years’ experience in engineering management and successfully completed the entire cycle of designing, manufacturing, testing, and maintaining diesel and battery electric machines. Currently, he is focusing on battery, hydrogen, and diesel-electric technologies to reduce carbon footprints in the mining industry.

E. Acuna-Duhart

Enrique Acuña-Duhart is an energy efficiency specialist with the NRCan-CanmetMINING team in Sudbury and works in the transition from diesel to electric vehicles in mining. He holds a Master’s degree in Operations Management and a PhD in Natural Resources Engineering. His focus is to develop tools and methodologies for improving energy efficiency and productivity in the mining sector associated with energy management.

M. Levesque

Michelle Levesque is the engineering technical lead for the Climate Change Mitigation team at NRCan-CanmetMINING. Michelle is a chemist and holds a Master’s degree and a PhD in Natural Resources Engineering. Focusing on the development of tools and technologies for improving efficiencies within the mining sector, she has worked on various projects aiming to improve sustainability in mining.

E. Tomini

Emma Tomini is a data scientist with NRCan-CanmetMINING and works on implementing artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven solutions for the mining industry. Emma has a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Laurentian University and a Master’s degree in Data Science and Analytics from Ryerson University and has worked on AI projects relating to predictive maintenance, energy management, and value chain optimization.

A. Mohsenimanesh

Ahmad Mohsenimanesh is an electric vehicles research scientist at NRCan-CanmetENERGY in Ottawa. His main research and development (R&D) activities have focused on modeling, development, and evaluation of off-road vehicles, with particular focus on: instrumentation, control, and electrification; structure and mechanical properties of materials; and big data analysis. He has published one book, one patent, and more than 30 journal articles, conference papers, and refereed scientific reports.

H. Ribberink

Hajo Ribberink leads the Transportation Electrification R&D team at the NRCan-CanmetENERGY research centre in Ottawa. He has a Master’s degree in Applied Physics and uses modeling and simulation techniques to evaluate advanced technologies. He has more than 10 years of experience in researching many different aspects of electric vehicles, like cold weather performance, battery degradation, and required charging infrastructure.

P. Summers

Paul Summers has almost 30 years of professional experience in mobile equipment design. After a decade in the automotive space, he moved into mining equipment. Paul has had several roles for remote support, application engineering, new product design, and helping create standards and regulations. He always keeps safety, productivity, and serviceability as key pillars of any project that he is involved with.