Truck engines? Rolls Royce is coming out with a 20-foot tall monster of a mining truck soon.
Massive dump trucks for mining and Rolls Royce? One company makes the luxury car, and another makes an enormous dump truck. The more prominent Rolls Royce brand owns both companies. I bet you didn’t think of the two together in the same sentence.
On Monday, the company said it would partner with American company Flanders Electric to produce a hybrid mining truck to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
Oh, and the 20-foot-tall dumper goal is to reduce consumption and emissions by 30 percent.
It makes you wonder what the next Rolls-Royce car will be. The Rolls-Royce Cullinan was huge.
Upping The Ante With Engine
The truck plan is similar to that of hybrid cars and trucks. The difference is that monster truck goes from 16-cylinders and diesel engines to electric motors and battery pack.
The company said it hadn’t paired its state-of-the-art 12V 2000 mining engine with an MTU EnergyPack battery system until now.
“Our environment is a critical topic for the mining industry,” Rolls-Royce’s head of global mining business Scott Woodruff said. “Mining companies are leading change and holding themselves accountable with ambitious, responsible targets to reduce emissions.
Oh, and the vehicle can recharge when the vehicle stops by a brake. Rolls-Royce mining application engineer came up with the idea.
“The batteries are recharged by recuperating braking energy when going downhill,” Alexander Richter said. “This stored energy is used to provide power to the loaded truck when going uphill.”
Richter said the method helps replace the current engine with a smaller one, leading to fuel savings and emissions reduction.
The truck also plans to include a 1,560 horsepower truck engine to haul all those 450 tons of rubble.
Rolls-Royce already has a hybrid solution for trains. The company, with Flanders Electric, is committed to the powertrain design and is anticipating a commercial vehicle model soon for mining.
The company is also working on net-zero options for mining companies. Designers are working on MTU engines running on sustainable fuels with hydrogen sources.
Rolls Royce Than Just Trucks
Rolls-Royce Holdings started in 2011 and has ties to the old 1884 engineering business. The company went on to make engines for World War II planes and passenger jets.
Along the way, it became a power systems maker. It designs, manufactures, and distributes power systems for aviation and other industries (cars, submarines, marine boats, etc.).
In the United States, the company makes engines for regional and corporate jets, helicopters, and turboprop aircraft.
When it comes to Rolls-Royce cars, BMW owns that part of the company. The Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited name has been in operation since 2003.
