Removing Australia’s fuel tax credit would bring battery-electric mining haul trucks close to cost parity with diesel trucks at FY25 fuel prices and make them cheaper at July 2026 prices, according to modelling by Accela Research. The analysis compares the total cost of owning and operating a fleet of 20 trucks over ten years.
Accela Research’s mining analyst Sam Rush reached out to The Driven this week with an analysis of the total running costs between diesel powered and electric powered mining fleets.
“We compared the total cost of ownership (TCO) for 20 battery-electric haul trucks versus diesel-powered trucks over ten years,” said Rush.
“Our analysis indicates that the economic case for maintaining diesel fleets due to cost competitiveness is weaker when the Fuel Tax Credit (FTC) is removed, and that not even the FTC can keep diesel competitive with electric fleets at elevated prices during supply crises.”
Rush developed the chart below to demonstrate his subsequent analysis.
According to Rush, the modelling found three outcomes:
- Retaining the FTC leaves the battery fleet 34 per cent and 19 per cent more expensive than a diesel fleet at FY25 and July 26 fuel prices, respectively;
- Removing the FTC brings the battery fleet’s ten-year TCO almost to par with diesel even at FY25 prices and flips it to cheaper at July 2026 prices;
- Even with the FTC, the battery fleet is cheaper at peak 2026 (April) and current fuel prices.
The modelling comes as miners in Australia and China trial and deploy more electric equipment.
Australian mining giant Fortescue is in the midst of its “Real Zero” push to completely eliminate fossil fuels from its operations and value chains and is investing heavily in clean energy generation and electrification.
The company has already purchased and begun testing a range of battery electric mining trucks, including a batch of mining prototypes from Chinese construction machinery manufacturer XCMG, which began their journey to Australia last month.
In addition to the heavy mobile equipment including battery electric wheel loaders, wheel dozers, water carts, float prime movers, and graders Fortescue is purchasing from XCMG, Fortescue also began operating an entirely electric fleet of huge excavators earlier this year at the Flying Fish iron ore mine.
Similarly, in China, a number of mining companies and mining equipment manufacturers are rolling out a range of battery electric vehicles.
Chinese mining giant Zijin Mining Group is leading the way and not only deploying electric mining vehicles, but building its own when it can’t find a supplier.
Zijin also unveiled in August what could be the world’s largest-tonnage battery electric mining truck, a 350-tonne behemoth that is powered by a pair of 800-kilowatt (kW) motors, backed by what Zijin Longking described in their press release as “a large-capacity, long-life superchargeable battery system” that is capable of rapid charging to 90 per cent in only 25 minutes.
