this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2024
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[–] [email protected] 377 points 4 days ago (8 children)

The dump truck, at 45 tons, ascends the 13-percent grade and takes on 65 tons of ore. With more than double the weight going back down the hill, the beast's regenerative braking system recaptures more than enough energy to refill the charge the eDumper used going up.

[–] [email protected] 330 points 4 days ago (5 children)

So the energy this truck uses is harnessed via mining and loading... Essentially this energy was stored in the ore via geological processes.

This truck uses continental drift as his fuel.

[–] [email protected] 89 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago
[–] [email protected] 54 points 3 days ago

Or in physics terms, potential energy.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 days ago

Since everything seems to be going downhill right now, how would I harness that power? You telling me the crystal peddling influencers were right all along? 🤣

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[–] stoy 58 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Kinda like the mine in the UK that use a cableway without a motor to bring ore down and empty buckets up

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I saw that Tom Scott episode too. I’ll miss him.

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 4 days ago

Is that just a gravity battery that just so happens to be a dump truck as well?

[–] [email protected] 33 points 4 days ago (2 children)

So it was designed for this mine I guess?

I'm not sure there's a lot of mine you're going down filled up, the images I have in mind are quite the opposite, but that's a really cool idea!

There actually is some design to stock energy this way, with weights you lift while having excess energy

[–] [email protected] 39 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Depends on the scale of "going down". Many mines are in the mountains and the material has to be brought down to lower elevations. The mine entry may be lower than the nearest pass but still a lot higher than the destination of the ore.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 days ago (1 children)

If you're thinking of that CGI crane lifting concrete blocks, it's unfortunately a really bad idea.

Pumped hydro stores energy by lifting weight uphill, instead. Water is basically the cheapest thing you can get per tonne, and is easy to contain and move.

To store useful amounts of energy using gravity, you need pretty large elevation differences and millions of tonnes of mass to move.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Reminds me of this ropeway thing that Tom Scott covered that doesn't require power input either, for similar reasons:

https://youtu.be/6RiYXI1Tfu4

Niche application but still cool.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

ARGH Why did you have to remind me that Tom Scott is still missing from Youtube!

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[–] [email protected] 67 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (4 children)

EV never has to be recharged... Because it recharges on the way downhill.

"World's largest EV never has to be plugged in" is sufficiently click-baity without being so dumbly self contradicting

[–] locuester 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

More like “never has to stop working to charge”. It is novel that its charging mechanism operates as a function of doing its primary job.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Not novel. I think there was a train somewhere in Africa, that transported some ore from mountain to port. On the way down with ore it charged and uphill it used charge.

[–] locuester 3 points 2 days ago

Is novel for a dump truck to use this. Of course it’s not a completely new concept entirely.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Yeah I was gonna say I'm pretty sure this isn't a single use, disposable vehicle

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Reminds me of some guy with a OneWheel that was saying he'd never charged his board in like a thousand miles as his daily commuter.

He lives near the top of a mountain lift, so he takes it home and just runs on pure regen lol.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

I think it's still pretty cool. Turning potential energy to kenetic

[–] [email protected] 142 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

Amateurs.

The 1963 Černý Důl – Kunčice nad Labem aerial ropeway is over 8 km (5 mi) long, over 30 m high in places and carries 135 tons of limestone every hour from a quarry to the nearest train station. Its 120kW 3-phase synchronous motor requires power for a few minutes at the start and end of each day when most of the 800kg-capacity trolleys are empty, and spends most of the shift generating mains electricity and acting as a speed governor. Unlike the EV, it is fully autonomous most of the way, only 5 people are required to operate it. (Loading, unloading and timed dispatching is automatic, arriving/leaving carts just need to be checked; a safety latch has to be manually dis/engaged on trolleys passing the check.) The quarry will continue operation as long as it pays off, then the ropeway will be scrapped (projected 2033). A dude illegally rode the way up on it somewhat recently. He could have fallen to his death if he pulled the latch.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago (6 children)

I wouldn't be surprised if there are electrified railway lines doing the same. Regenerate large amounts of energy into the grid while descending loaded; consume a relatively small amount of energy to haul the empty train back uphill.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 3 days ago (3 children)

"World's largest EV"

Blatantly untrue. Larger EVs have been in use for more than a century at this point in the form of EMU trains.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 3 days ago (4 children)

The emus have trains now?!

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 days ago

Take that Australia!

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

Yeah we're proper fucked tbh

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago

It was part of the treaty. That and the Great Dingo Barrier.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

We truly are lost...

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago (4 children)

I'll pick up the pedantic torch. Trains are made of train cars, I'd argue each one is a separate car or vehicle even though they're strapped together.

I feel like The ISS ticks a lot of the boxes for a vehicle though, how big is that?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Sure, but quite often in EMUs the cars come in sets that can't operate disconnected from each other, so I'd argue that they still comprise a single vehicle.

~~I'd argue that the ISS, due to lacking means of propulsion (unless you count explosive decompression) is not a vehicle.~~

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Bagger 288 is also electrically driven. Even if it is connected by cable to a nearby powerplant.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

I read the story.

I saw the comments on the story

I laughed at the pedantic slapfights happening in the comments.

I came here to comment on the neat story and poke fun at the silliness, to find the same pedantic slapfights here.

Sigh.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

yes it does. just going by the numbers posted operating in the space it does results in a net loss of12% battery each trip.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 days ago (7 children)

You just toss it when the battery dies and get a new one.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 days ago (7 children)

Wow what a great use case.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 4 days ago

Click bait that actually makes me glad I clicked???

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Till elon finds out that if he manages to cover the sun, he can charge us on sunscription

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Pretty sure its also not solar. The machine gets loaded with weight at the top of the hill, its regenerative brakes store power on the way down, it drops the load off, and the lightened machine stored enough charge to drive back up.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I cannot avoid to be pedantic on this, it is recharged during half the trip… it just does not require plug-like recharging

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 days ago (2 children)

well that was unexpected

I'm curious if the desgin team knew about it in advance

[–] [email protected] 37 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Are you asking if Swiss guys knew about mountains? )

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

No one commenting on the fact that the first paragraph says it doesn't even CONSUME energy????

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago

Technically it would be impossible to consume energy unless converting it into mass (or time I guess but thats purely theoretical)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

I think it's clear they are sensationalizing it due to the unique nature of the energy used, which is external potential energy that needed to get down the hill whether it's a gas or electric truck.

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