130-ton electric trucks haul ore 4,000 ft underground
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- LKAB deployed two 130-ton battery-electric Scania haul trucks at its Malmberget iron ore mine, operating more than 4,000 feet below the surface and each moving 3,200+ tons of ore per full working day.
- Scania's custom trucks carry 624 kWh li-ion batteries delivering roughly seven hours of fully loaded runtime, and recharge at up to 375 kW via CCS connector in about 80 minutes.
- The underground mine maintains a constant 12-15°C temperature, which LKAB electrification engineer Pär Sundqvist called "perfect for batteries" — an environment road-going EVs never get.
- Unlike road-biased electric semis, the Scania mining trucks use a central electric machine paired with an automated gearbox and conventional driven axles, customized specifically for underground duty rather than an e-axle layout.
- LKAB is targeting 30% electrification of its mining fleet by 2027 and says it is on track to hit that milestone.
- Scania is already developing an even larger 80-ton 8×4 battery-electric haul truck dubbed "Sleipner."
Why it matters: LKAB's two-truck deployment is one of the first real-world proofs that full-size battery-electric haul trucks can handle underground mining duty cycles at industrial scale, and with 30% of its fleet targeted for electrification by 2027 — a goal the company says it is on track to meet — diesel-powered underground ore transport has its first credible, near-term replacement path.
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