Liebherr and Fortescue have signed a $2.8 billion USD deal to deliver 475 zero emissions mining machines.
The partnership is the single largest equipment deal in the Liebherr Group’s 75-year history and Fortescue’s single largest ever contract. It includes about 360 autonomous battery-electric trucks, 55 electric excavators and 60 battery-powered dozers.
As part of the deal, Liebherr and Fortescue will deploy a complete autonomous battery-electric haulage solution for large scale mining operations.
A zero-emission battery power system used in the battery-electric trucks has been developed by Fortescue Zero, Fortescue’s technology arm.
Fortescue Zero’s battery power system will also be integrated into an electric version of Liebherr’s flagship mining dozer, the PR 776.
The agreement was signed at MinExpo byDr Willi Liebherr, Member of the Administrative Board of Liebherr-International AG, and Dr Andrew Forrest, Executive Chairman of Fortescue.
RELATED: Liebherr and Fortescue test hydrogen-powered haul truck
“Partnerships with companies and people like Liebherr and Willi Liebherr – where ambition is backed by action – are critical,” said Dr Andrew Forrest, executive chairman of Fortescue. “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. The world needs Real Zero now – it simply cannot afford to wait.”
The large scale zero emission mining ecosystem developed by Liebherr and Fortescue will be available to the rest of the mining industry in the near future.
This deal is expected to create one of the world’s largest zero emission mining fleets.
“We see ourselves as pioneers because we continually exceed our customers’ expectations with our sophisticated solutions and cutting-edge innovations. This mindset drives us forwards as we continue to play a key role in shaping technology development across many industries,” Dr. Liebherr said.
Autonomous battery-electric T 264
Of the 475 machines that make up this deal, about 360 will be autonomous battery-electric T 264 trucks, containing a battery electric power system developed by Fortescue Zero.
This is triple the 120 trucks that were announced as part of the initial partnership between Liebherr and Fortescue in 2022.
Fortescue considers this to be the optimal path for the replacement of critical diesel Heavy Mobile Equipment to meet its 2030 decarbonization targets. All of the trucks in this fleet will ultimately be equipped with a zero-emission battery power system developed by Fortescue Zero and the jointly developed Autonomous Haulage Solution (AHS) – both of which were built to be scalable so they can be retrofitted onto existing Liebherr haul trucks.
The AHS, which was co-developed by companies, also includes an Energy Management System that coordinates the static recharge assignments for the trucks and ensures the charger is fully utilized without causing queuing on site.
“We wanted to design and build an intelligent, state-of-the-art AHS that not only includes the know-how from both an OEM and a mining operator generated over the last few years but will also be able to integrate with new zero emission solutions in the future,” said Oliver Weiss, Executive Vice President, Research and Development, Engineering and Production, Liebherr-Mining Equipment SAS.
Fortescue has developed the stationary fast charging solution to support the autonomous battery-electric truck. Equipped with robotic connection options, the charger can provide up to 6 MW of power and charge the current battery-electric T 264 in 30 minutes.
The T 264 battery-electric truck will commence onsite validation at the end of 2025. The approximately 360-strong T 264 truck fleet has already begun arriving to Fortescue’s Western Australian operations, with the first trucks delivered to Fortescue’s Eliwana mine in October 2023. The initial 240-tonne capacity trucks will be converted to zero emission powertrains before 2030.
However, most of the fleet will be supplied in battery-electric configuration from first arrival.
Four autonomous trucks are currently in validation at Fortescue’s testing site, with the first deployment of operational autonomous trucks expected in the first quarter of 2025. All T 264 trucks are arriving autonomy-ready and will be progressively deployed to autonomous operations across Fortescue’s sites.
Validation of the full autonomous battery-electric solution is expected to be complete in early 2026.
