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Published: October 27, 2026 |
EACON Mining Technology’s autonomous solution has now been deployed on more than 1,500 battery-electric mining trucks, making battery-electric vehicles the largest single powertrain category across EACON’s autonomous fleet.
As of early September 2026, battery-electric trucks now account for approximately 42 percent of the fleet, followed by diesel hybrid-electric vehicles at 41 percent and methanol hybrids at 16 percent, while conventional internal combustion engine trucks represent less than 1 percent.
The milestone represents rapid growth in EACON’s battery-electric autonomous fleet, which has nearly doubled in less than six months — expanding from 800 trucks in March 2026 to more than 1,500 today.
As these fleets grow, the interaction between autonomy and electrification becomes increasingly important. Electric haulage requires mines to consider not only how trucks operate, but when and where they charge, how energy is used and recovered, and how these requirements fit around production.
EACON works with mine operators and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to integrate its ORCASTRA® autonomous haulage system with the trucks selected for each operation, allowing autonomy to support different equipment and powertrain strategies.
COORDINATING CHARGING WITH PRODUCTION
For mines operating around the clock, one of the practical challenges of electrification is coordinating charging without unnecessarily interrupting haulage.EACON’s fleet management technology considers battery levels, predicted energy consumption, charging station availability, and production requirements when scheduling charging. Trucks can autonomously navigate to charging areas, position at charging bays and return to haulage after charging is complete.
At CHN Energy’s Zhundong Open-Pit Coal Mine, 120 battery-electric trucks equipped with EACON’s ORCASTRA® system operate with 28 charging points. Coordinating charging across the fleet helps manage shared charging infrastructure while supporting continuous haulage.
OPERATING ACROSS DIVERSE AND DEMANDING ENVIRONMENTS
Battery-electric autonomous haulage is also operating at scale in challenging metal mining environments.
At Zijin Mining’s Julong Copper Mine, 60 battery-electric autonomous trucks are in regular operation at high altitude, with an attendance rate of more than 90 percent. Conditions can include low atmospheric pressure, extreme cold, snow, and freeze-thaw cycles.
EACON’s autonomous driving technology combines 360º perception with distributed braking and adaptive vehicle control to support stable operation under these conditions.
Elsewhere, EACON announced an expansion at China Baowu Steel Group’s Taihe Iron Ore Mine in March 2026, adding autonomy to 12 further battery-electric trucks following more than a year of operation with the initial six.
Together, these deployments show battery-electric autonomy progressing from individual deployments to larger fleets operating across different commodities and mine environments.
ENERGY RECOVER IN BATTERY-ELECTRIC HAULAGE
Autonomous vehicle control can also make energy use across the haul cycle more consistent and measurable. Compared with manual operation, where driving behavior can vary between operators, autonomous control enables more consistent speed and trajectory planning, helping make energy consumption more predictable. Battery-electric haul trucks can also recover energy during deceleration and downhill travel through regenerative braking, reducing reliance on mechanical braking and helping improve overall energy efficiency.
At Shougang Group’s Shuichang Iron Ore Mine, results published in February 2026 reported more than 11 million tonnes hauled and approximately 386,000 kWh of energy recovered through regenerative braking.
SCALING AUTONOMOUS ELECTRIC HAULAGE
In less than six months, the number of battery-electric trucks equipped with EACON’s technology has nearly doubled, reflecting the increasing scale of autonomous electric haulage in production.
Across these operations, autonomy is supporting some of the practical requirements that come with electrification — from coordinating charging across large fleets to supporting consistent vehicle control and energy recovery.
EACON’s growing deployment base provides practical operating experience in integrating autonomy and electrification across different equipment, commodities and mine environments. As miners continue to evaluate and expand battery-electric haulage, this experience can help operators progress their electrification and decarbonization objectives.
Founded in 2018, EACON Mining Technology is a technology company specializing in OEM-agnostic autonomous driving solutions for the mining industry. With strong capabilities in vehicle engineering and mining operations, EACON delivers end-to-end solutions from customized development and deployment to transition, operation, and maintenance. With offices in China and Australia, they are now rapidly expanding operations into international markets.
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