The hydrogen-powered Liebherr T 264, known as Europa. Credit: Liebherr.

Australian mining giant Fortescue’s prototype haul truck powered by hydrogen, Europa, developed with German-Swiss manufacturer Liebherr, successfully travelled 1,100km from Perth to the Pilbara on Tuesday (13 August).  

Europa, a T 264 Liebherr haul truck, has a 1.6 megawatt-hour battery developed internally by Fortescue WAE, and 500kW of fuel cells. The prototype can hold more than 380kg of liquid hydrogen. 

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Over the coming months, Europa will undergo on-site testing at the Christmas Creek iron ore mine.  Feedback will be used to shape the company’s future zero-emission haul truck fleet.  

Fortescue Metals CEO Dino Otranto said: “Europa integrates for the first time a Fortescue Zero battery into a Liebherr haul truck, marking a huge milestone in our partnership with Liebherr.” 

Once operational at the site, Europa will be fuelled with liquid hydrogen from Fortescue’s Green Energy Hub at Christmas Creek, which includes a gaseous and liquid hydrogen plant. 

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Oliver Weiss, executive vice-president of R&D, engineering and production Liebherr-Mining Equipment SAS, said: “Liebherr and Fortescue are aligned in the belief that hydrogen and hydrogen carriers, such as ammonia, will play an important role in supporting the mine decarbonisation additional to electrification.”  

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Since their announcement in 2022, Liebherr and Fortescue have collaborated to create zero-emission haul trucks. Recently, the companies revealed their plans to develop and verify a completely integrated autonomous haulage solution. 

“To decarbonise mining, you need a system solution, so this new operating system, which integrates a Fleet Management System and energy management, will be a game changer for us in reducing our carbon emissions,” Otranto added. 

According to the company, Fortescue’s advancement in this solution brings the company closer to introducing autonomous haul trucks with zero emissions to its iron ore operations in the Pilbara. This progress aligns with Fortescue’s goal of achieving complete terrestrial emission elimination (scope 1 and 2) across Australian iron ore operations by 2030.