Abstract
To provide the Canadian and global mining industry with the data required to support electrification and the transition from diesel to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), Maclean Engineering collaborated with Workplace Safety North (WSN) and NRCan-CanmetMINING (CMIN) to test a diesel and BEV equipment at their research facility in Sudbury ON. WSN supported the test by monitoring dust, diesel particulate matter (DPM), gases and noise, while CMIN monitored the mobile equipment performance and mine air temperature. The equipment performance included fuel consumed for the diesel and energy consumed for the BEV. The two vehicles tested were a BEV cassette truck and a diesel water truck. Both diesel and BEV vehicles were tested at different load conditions such as empty and fully loaded. This presentation includes the specifications of the equipment tested, the test route and duty cycle followed with the results of the different parameters monitored. The vehicles are compared in terms of loaded and empty equipment operation, and between the diesel and BEV counterparts. Results show that the use of BEV, instead of a diesel equipment, is an important step towards improving working conditions in an underground environment eliminating the tail pipe contribution of DPM and gases. Noise levels measured outside the vehicle were lower for the BEV, however measurements taken inside the operator cabin showed that both diesel and BEV noise levels were similar. It was observed that mine drift noise levels can also be influenced by the increased load and technology considered. Respirable dust, temperature and performance results are presented and discussed.