While Americans fret over whether or not electric vehicles are up to the challenge of hauling them back and forth to the Piggly Wiggly, Tonly is putting a fleet of advanced sodium battery electric haul trucks to work mining heavy ore.
Co-developed by Chinese equipment brand Tonly Heavy Industry and the chemistry experts at Hina Battery, the 676 kWh “Haixing” series battery fitted in the new Tonly K120E electric haul trucks deployed at the Tangshan Sanyou limestone mines are a world’s-first, offering super fast 0% to 100% charging times in under minutes over a usable lifespan of a positively massive 8,000 cycles (!) without the geopolitical headaches of lithium.
The Haixing batteries also offer respectable energy density specs at 165 Wh/kg, improved thermal stability (read: fire safety) compared to lithium, and – the killer app for ultra class haul trucks – superior cold-weather performance.
Cold blooded
These trucks are earmarked to work in the coldest regions of northern China, where nighttime temperatures can frequently plummet to -20°C in areas like Harbin and Shenyang. Those extreme temperatures don’t just wreak havoc on conventional lithium-ion battery range, they make it almost impossible for the big diesel engines that these big BEVs are replacing to even start, let alone run efficiently.
That’s why just about everyone who tests EVs in extreme cold comes out impressed with their performance compared to diesel. That includes semi trucks, light-duty BEVs, and (of course) electric school buses.
“Most of the winter it’s 30 to 35 below (zero),” offered West Grand County School District Director of Transportation, Bethany Aurinwhen, in a 2024 interview. “When it’s up to 20 below that’s good day, and (the electric school bus) has performed extremely well.”
Putting people first
The sort of extreme temperatures that cripple diesels don’t just slow down a mine’s operations, they put the people behind the wheel of these massive machines at serious safety risk from cold-related injuries like frostbite and hypothermia. That’s why stories like last month’s announcement that Tonly will deliver 800 autonomous TLE135 mining trucks to Xinjiang Hanxiang matter so much.
Lower emissions, less pollution, reduced hearing loss from diesel drone, superior safety, and autonomous, all-weather performance. That’s a value proposition that’s going to be tough to beat – which explains just about every single political lobbying dollar being spent by the oil companies right now.
Gas and oil knows they’re beat.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Tonly, via CarNewsChina, CNEVPost.
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