Meet the world’s largest electric vehicle, expected to save more than 1,300 tons of CO2 emissions and 125,000 gallons of diesel fuel over the next decade. Not suprisingly, this huge dump truck also has the largest battery ever made for an electric vehicle.
The world’s largest biggest electric vehicle is on the job in the quarry of Vigier cement works near the Swiss town of Bienne. Everything about it is super-sized.
The E-Dumper named “Lynx” weighs 58 tons empty. It’s tires are six feet in diameter.
The driver must climb nine steps up to the drivers’ cabin.
It was built from a diesel-powered dump truck.
The fuel tank was replaced by the biggest battery ever made for an electric vehicle, which weighs 4.5 tons.
It can haul an estimated 300,000 tons of material.
And it is expected to save record amounts of CO2 emissions.
“Lynx” was designed to carry limestone and sedimentary rock to a processing plant lower down the mountain.
During the descent with a full load, the battery is recharged by converting the energy from braking.
Such regenerative braking is part of every EV and plug-in hybrid, from family sedans like the Honda Clarity we wrote about recently, to 18-wheeler EVs we also wrote about recently here on ecoXplorer.
Enough electricity is produced by the regenerative braking to allow the EV truck to climb back up the hill with the truck empty, for another load.
Its designers say its energy consumption is zero, which is being measured precisely during the truck’s first months of operation.
The project is supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.
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