(This story has been edited. The original stated the trucks Conuma is purchasing are all-electric; it should have stated they are hybrid-electric).
Conuma Coal, which operates three metallurgical coal mines in northeastern B.C., is switching to hybrid-electric trucks at one of its mine sites.
The company plans to replace its fleet of diesel trucks with five hybrid-electric mine haul trucks made by Komatsu at its Wolverine mine.
The company expects to save money on maintenance.
"Based on comprehensive engineering and financial analysis, Conuma determined that the deployment of new Komatsu 830E-5 haul trucks at Wolverine would meaningfully increase production at the mine, largely due to the improved overall availability of the Komatsu electric drive haul trucks," the company said in a news release.
The Komatsu 830E-5 is a hybrid that uses a diesel engine but electric drive. The first Komatsu hybrid-electric truck arrived at the mine in August. The other four trucks are expected to arrive at the mine sometime in the next two months.
