China Zijin Longjing propose The ZL230E is the all-electric mining truck with the largest payload capacity in China. On August 10, the car rolled off the assembly line in Longyan City, Fujian Province. The dump truck has a total weight of 350 tons, a dead weight of 120 tons, and a maximum load capacity of 230 tons. This type of diesel-powered equipment is extremely harmful to the environment and should first be replaced by electric technology.
Image source: Zijin Longjing
The maximum load capacity of the dump truck body is 125 m3 The machine is mainly designed for use in large-scale open-pit mines, where the equipment must work continuously at full load in very harsh environments, overcome inclines and travel long distances.
This behemoth is powered by two electric motors with 800 kW each, for a total of 1.6 MW, or about 2175 hp. and. The design uses a multi-bridge circuit with centrally distributed independent drives: electronics regulate the power transmission to the drive shafts and coordinate their operation on the fly. Developers claim this architecture maintains high traction on long climbs and improves the controllability of heavy machines in difficult quarry conditions.
To cope with such loads, the dump truck features a reinforced patented frame, a redundant chassis control system, multi-level redundant braking and steering control, and a smart energy management system.
The dump truck is powered by a battery with a capacity of approximately 1400 kWh, approximately 15 to 20 times that of a typical modern passenger electric vehicle. The ultra-fast charging system allows you to increase the charge from approximately 10% to 90% in 25 minutes. During this period, approximately 1.12 MWh of energy must be transferred to the battery, which corresponds to an average charging power of approximately 2.7 MW without considering losses. In unmanned mode, the operation of the dump truck benefits from the machine vision and control platform of Australian company EACON, which Zijin Longjing cooperates with.
Interestingly, the famous Belarusian brand BELAZ is also committed to building all-electric mining dump trucks. In 2024, the company demonstrated a purely battery-powered BELAZ-7513E vehicle with a lifting capacity of 120 tons. The car is equipped with 26 lithium-ion battery modules with a total capacity of about 1.5MWh, which recovers energy during downhill driving and braking. The manufacturer claims a full charge of about four hours when driving uphill, and a quick charge to 80% in about 30 minutes.
In 2025, BELAZ, Norilsk Nickel and Renera signed a strategic agreement to develop a more powerful battery-powered mining dump truck, but its characteristics are still unknown.
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