On July 30, 2026 – the AT-150 – China’s first all electric, bidirectional, unmanned rigid mining truck, jointly developed by energy company and coal miner State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) in collaboration with mining truck OEM Inner Mongolia North Hauler (NHL) and OEM-agnostic AHS tech major EACON, was successfully put into operation at SPIC’s South open-pit coal mine in Inner Mongolia.

EACON states: “This vehicle completely eliminates the traditional cab and adopts a completely no-cab design, becoming a true ‘mining transport robot.’ Relying on the country’s first two-way autonomous driving decision-making system provided by EACON, it breaks the traditional physical boundary between the front and rear of mining trucks.”

It adds: “It can travel in both directions within narrow work surfaces without U-turns, and achieves fully closed-loop unmanned operations such as automatic loading, autonomous driving, precise unloading, autonomous obstacle avoidance, and automatic parking. This fully delivers mobility and operational efficiency under heavy load conditions, and also provides a new practical path for green intelligent transportation in large open-pit mines.”

IM Editorial Director Paul Moore recently had the chance to see the AT-150 truck up close at SPIC’s operation in Inner Mongolia

This vehicle has a rated load capacity of 136 t and integrates three major technological breakthroughs: pure electric drive, bidirectional driving, and autonomous driving. It is mainly designed for coal and overburden transportation, representing EACON says “a new breakthrough in China’s high-end, intelligent, and green heavy-duty transport equipment for large open-pit mines.”

In terms of technological innovation, the vehicle is equipped with China’s first two-way autonomous driving decision-making system. Relying on a dedicated architecture of full electric drive, all-wheel steering, and bi-directional driving, it eliminates the physical boundary between the front and rear of traditional mining trucks, allowing two-way driving in narrow work surfaces without U-turns, greatly improving mobility and operational efficiency under heavy loads.

To address the extremely variable climate conditions in northern mining areas, the R&D team tackled key technologies for wide-temperature battery adaptation, and for the first time in China, equipped mining trucks of this tonnage with semi-solid-state power batteries. The battery supports 3.4 MW, 900V ultra-fast fast charging, and can stably withstand extreme operating environments of -30°C to 50°C, ensuring stable operation in extreme cold and heat.

In terms of economic performance indicators, measured data demonstrates a significant competitive advantage. On-site measurements show that the energy consumption per unit of this vehicle is 65% lower than that of traditional diesel vehicles of the same tonnage, with significant economic benefits in energy saving and consumption reduction. The vehicle adopts a modular integrated charging and swapping mode, with a full charge range of no less than 6 hours and a comprehensive equipment deployment rate of over 85%, fully meeting the high-intensity, all-weather production demands of open-pit mines.

At the same time, the vehicle can significantly reduce diesel consumption and emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and other pollutants, helping to address the industry’s challenge of high fossil fuel consumption in open pit mining.

In terms of intelligent safety, the vehicle relies on China’s first two-way autonomous driving decision-making system, achieving a fully closed-loop unmanned operation from automatic loading, autonomous driving, precise unloading to autonomous obstacle avoidance and automatic parking. This not only completely frees drivers from harsh working environments but also uses fully standardised intelligent algorithms to effectively avoid human operational errors and violations, comprehensively improving the mine’s intrinsic safety level from the equipment management side.

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