Forrest strikes $4 billion deal for electric trucks and dozers

Iron ore billionaire and green energy evangelist Andrew Forrest has struck a $4 billion deal that will see hundreds of giant electric trucks, excavators and dozers installed at its huge iron ore mines to help eliminate the burning of fossil fuels.

Forrest has set a target of reaching “real zero” terrestial emissions for the Pilbara iron ore operations of Fortescue Metals, and he wants to achieve that by 2030. The deal announced overnight with Leibherr – the biggest in that company’s history – will take a big step towards that goal.

The $US2.8 billion ($A4 billion) agreement with Liebherr includes the purchase of 360 autonomous battery electric haul trucks – the T264, some 55 electric excavators, and 60 new battery electric dozers under development, the PR 776.

The 240 tonne haul trucks and the dozers will use electric power and propulsion systems developed by Fortescue, and Fortescue will also supply the hundreds of giant batteries needed for the machines.

“This is an important next step in our 2030 Real Zero target – to eliminate emissions from our Australian iron ore operations by the end of the decade,” Forrest said in a statement after the announcement at a mining expo in Las Vegas.