Brian Huff, VP technology and product line at Sandvik

Brian Huff has built his entire career around electrification. He started out 27 years ago and has since then worked on electric solutions for cars, boats, and now mining vehicles. “Electrification in mining is by far the best business case that we have seen so far and it has a real impact on the industry,” he says.

Brian Huff works at the Sandvik business unit Artisan who are experts in electric mining equipment. According to him, the biggest difference between electric cars and electric mining vehicles is the size. Customers don’t need to change their method of mining, they can still operate their trucks and loaders the way they do now.

“Once you do take on battery equipment, it changes everything else, but more related to economics, benefits for the workers and the impact on global emissions,” says Huff. “This is a massive change that is really easy to implement.”

Huff also talks about the powerful equipment, the improved productivity, self-swapping batteries and other technical aspects of electrification in mining.

Looking ahead, Huff says he expects a rapid push for electrification, with a lot of advancements when it comes to power capacity, density and reliability. Meanwhile, batteries will last longer and be smaller.

“When someone is considering a fleet, they will stop asking why they should go with electrified equipment and start asking why we would ever use diesel again,” he says. “The baseline will be electric, and I think that flip in approach is coming very rapidly.”