When most people think of EVs they might picture a Tesla Model 3 or a Nissan Leaf. Maybe a scooter or an e-bike. But a 110-ton behemoth of a dump truck? No way.
This green giant is the Elektro Dumper and it’s built by construction equipment maker Kuhn Schweitz. It’s notable for a couple of reasons.
First, it’s currently the largest wheeled EV (there are trains and boats that are larger). Kuhn Schweitz use the capable Komatsu HB 605-7 as a platform. It measures 30 feet long, 14 feet tall, and 14 feet wide. This thing is a beast.
The Elektro Dumper packs a massive 600 kilowatt-hour battery. That’s eight times more capacity than an extended range Model 2 and it weighs a whopping 4 tons on its own.
Second, it generates more electricity than it uses. Yes, there’s an asterisk next to this one. Despite its awesomeness the Elektro Dumper still has to follow the laws of physics.
It all has to do with the kind of work the E-Dumper is doing right now. It’s shifting rock from the top of a mining site down to the base.
Its electric motors don’t have to work all that hard on the way up the grade because the E-Dumper is empty. When it fills up at the top, it’s taking on a truckload of gravitational potential energy.
On the way down the truck’s regenerative systems push a whole lot of juice back into the 4-ton battery. When Audi Formula E driver Lucas di Grassi took one for a test drive, the E-Dumper had 80 percent of its charge remaining. By the time it stopped at the bottom it had gained 8 percent.
That’s pretty cool stuff, even if you do have to overlook the work done by the other machinery at the top of the hill to load the Elektro Dumper before its descent.
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