RT-Business Development, BELAZ and InDev Solutions, a development company, signed an appropriate agreement at INNOPROM. Belarus

Photo: BELAZ 

Rostec’s RT-Business Development and Belarusian companies will establish a joint venture for developing hydrogen-powered heavy-duty mining dump trucks. The holding will provide a special refueling infrastructure and robotic systems for an unmanned vehicle version under the program. 

The document implies the development of the BELAZ unmanned and hydrogen-powered mining dump trucks with a capacity of 220 tons. The dump truck that uses hydrogen cells for energy generation will allow companies to reduce a rock carriage tariff by decreasing the fuel and maintenance cost. 

A hybrid energy system based on hydrogen fuel cells, lithium-ion accumulator and high pressure receivers will be the ‘heart’ of the new dump truck.

“RT-Business Development holding will provide state-of-the-art hydrogen sources and innovative solutions for the corresponding refueling infrastructure. This will offer prices capable of competing with the traditional fuel. Moreover, the eco-friendly alternative to diesel fuel will reduce polluting emissions. The State Corporation will also provide the project with robotic and computer vision technologies allowing remote-operated unmanned version of the dump truck to be used,” said Rostec’s representatives. 

The remote-operated unmanned BELAZ will be equipped with an intelligent dispatch system that will provide full control and self-contained operation of the dump truck. Computer vision and neural network algorithm technologies will be used by the vehicle to identify objects and forecast routes on its own.