this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2024
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[–] cholesterol 383 points 2 months ago (8 children)

The dump truck, at 45 tons, ascends the 13-percent grade and takes on 65 tons of ore. With more than double the weight going back down the hill, the beast's regenerative braking system recaptures more than enough energy to refill the charge the eDumper used going up.

[–] ladicius 333 points 2 months ago (6 children)

So the energy this truck uses is harnessed via mining and loading... Essentially this energy was stored in the ore via geological processes.

This truck uses continental drift as his fuel.

[–] Speculater 92 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] Noodle07 15 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 54 points 2 months ago

Or in physics terms, potential energy.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 months ago

Since everything seems to be going downhill right now, how would I harness that power? You telling me the crystal peddling influencers were right all along? 🤣

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I've seen a cable lift that worked basically like that. It transferred ore down the mountain, so heavy buckets going down lifted the empty buckets back up.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Didn't Tom Scott make a video about this?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 months ago

Statistically, yes.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Kinda like the mine in the UK that use a cableway without a motor to bring ore down and empty buckets up

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[–] ieatpwns 47 points 2 months ago

Is that just a gravity battery that just so happens to be a dump truck as well?

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 months ago (2 children)

So it was designed for this mine I guess?

I'm not sure there's a lot of mine you're going down filled up, the images I have in mind are quite the opposite, but that's a really cool idea!

There actually is some design to stock energy this way, with weights you lift while having excess energy

[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Depends on the scale of "going down". Many mines are in the mountains and the material has to be brought down to lower elevations. The mine entry may be lower than the nearest pass but still a lot higher than the destination of the ore.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If you're thinking of that CGI crane lifting concrete blocks, it's unfortunately a really bad idea.

Pumped hydro stores energy by lifting weight uphill, instead. Water is basically the cheapest thing you can get per tonne, and is easy to contain and move.

To store useful amounts of energy using gravity, you need pretty large elevation differences and millions of tonnes of mass to move.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Reminds me of this ropeway thing that Tom Scott covered that doesn't require power input either, for similar reasons:

https://youtu.be/6RiYXI1Tfu4

Niche application but still cool.

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[–] [email protected] 145 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (5 children)

Amateurs.

The 1963 Černý Důl – Kunčice nad Labem aerial ropeway is over 8 km (5 mi) long, over 30 m high in places and carries 135 tons of limestone every hour from a quarry to the nearest train station. Its 120kW 3-phase synchronous motor requires power for a few minutes at the start and end of each day when most of the 800kg-capacity trolleys are empty, and spends most of the shift generating mains electricity and acting as a speed governor. Unlike the EV, it is fully autonomous most of the way, only 5 people are required to operate it. (Loading, unloading and timed dispatching is automatic, arriving/leaving carts just need to be checked; a safety latch has to be manually dis/engaged on trolleys passing the check.) The quarry will continue operation as long as it pays off, then the ropeway will be scrapped (projected 2033). A dude illegally rode the way up on it somewhat recently. He could have fallen to his death if he pulled the latch.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (6 children)

I wouldn't be surprised if there are electrified railway lines doing the same. Regenerate large amounts of energy into the grid while descending loaded; consume a relatively small amount of energy to haul the empty train back uphill.

[–] residentmarchant 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Content aside, what a great video! It's not that old of a video but it reminds me so much of early YouTube, just friends messing around and posting it with top tier song choice.

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[–] Soleos 69 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

EV never has to be recharged... Because it recharges on the way downhill.

"World's largest EV never has to be plugged in" is sufficiently click-baity without being so dumbly self contradicting

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago (3 children)

More like “never has to stop working to charge”. It is novel that its charging mechanism operates as a function of doing its primary job.

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[–] NikkiDimes 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Reminds me of some guy with a OneWheel that was saying he'd never charged his board in like a thousand miles as his daily commuter.

He lives near the top of a mountain lift, so he takes it home and just runs on pure regen lol.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

I think it's still pretty cool. Turning potential energy to kenetic

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 2 months ago (3 children)

"World's largest EV"

Blatantly untrue. Larger EVs have been in use for more than a century at this point in the form of EMU trains.

[–] Agent641 44 points 2 months ago (4 children)

The emus have trains now?!

[–] timduncant 23 points 2 months ago

Take that Australia!

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago

Yeah we're proper fucked tbh

[–] finitebanjo 11 points 2 months ago

It was part of the treaty. That and the Great Dingo Barrier.

[–] NoSpotOfGround 10 points 2 months ago

We truly are lost...

[–] Glitterbomb 19 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I'll pick up the pedantic torch. Trains are made of train cars, I'd argue each one is a separate car or vehicle even though they're strapped together.

I feel like The ISS ticks a lot of the boxes for a vehicle though, how big is that?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Sure, but quite often in EMUs the cars come in sets that can't operate disconnected from each other, so I'd argue that they still comprise a single vehicle.

~~I'd argue that the ISS, due to lacking means of propulsion (unless you count explosive decompression) is not a vehicle.~~

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[–] faltryka 34 points 2 months ago (7 children)

Wow what a great use case.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 months ago

Click bait that actually makes me glad I clicked???

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago (7 children)

You just toss it when the battery dies and get a new one.

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[–] sircac 23 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I cannot avoid to be pedantic on this, it is recharged during half the trip… it just does not require plug-like recharging

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[–] Siegfried 22 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Till elon finds out that if he manages to cover the sun, he can charge us on sunscription

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[–] mEEGal 19 points 2 months ago (2 children)

well that was unexpected

I'm curious if the desgin team knew about it in advance

[–] Bloodyhog 37 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Are you asking if Swiss guys knew about mountains? )

[–] mEEGal 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

hahaha guess it boils down to that 😂

but I was specifically wondering if they built the vehicle with a charger and ended up never using it, to their own surprise. or if they knew they'd (almost) never have to charge it

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[–] FlashMobOfOne 11 points 2 months ago (2 children)

"EDumper" is a great name for a dump truck.

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[–] Sam_Bass 10 points 2 months ago

yes it does. just going by the numbers posted operating in the space it does results in a net loss of12% battery each trip.

[–] A_Random_Idiot 9 points 2 months ago

I read the story.

I saw the comments on the story

I laughed at the pedantic slapfights happening in the comments.

I came here to comment on the neat story and poke fun at the silliness, to find the same pedantic slapfights here.

Sigh.

[–] gedaliyah 9 points 2 months ago

Very cool! It's a pretty specialized use case, but still awesome to see.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

Cool EV bruh, but can the horn make a fart noise?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

2017

At 50 tons and 700 kilowatt-hours, this truck is the biggest EV in the world Each round trip will generate 10kWh of spare electricity for the grid.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/09/this-cement-quarry-dump-truck-will-be-the-worlds-biggest-electric-vehicle/

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

I hope OpenTTD devs consider adding gravity-based electric transportation of heavy loads as an option

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