On the electric front for big equipment Mike, I agree that electric is possible and is in fact used for mining dumpers and the biggest diggers, either diesel electric or mains. However these machines are very powerful, a typical CAT 200 tonne dumper has a 1500HP diesel and the big excavators take several MW. The diesel electric drive means that no transmission is required and maximum power is available at any speed, particularly up the haul road to the mine top.

In diggers huge power is needed because both large forces and very rapid movement are required and a dumper may often be filled by only 1 to two bucket fulls at 50 or 60 dumpers an hour. There are pictures of some on you tube along with some equipment failures which are pretty dramatic, as well as some crushed smaller vehicles when they got in the way!

In reality these kind of things can never be battery powered, partly because they often run 24/7, and the battery weight would ruin the payload capability and charging would have to take only a minute or two, or perhaps swap batteries a few times a day.


The push to electrify the railways is also slightly difficult to understand, I remember the 125 trains when they started between Bristol and London. They did the non-stop journey in one hour to the minute, which was much better than the present service, but diesel electric of course which was much tidier on the eye when not on the train.

On the electric front for big equipment Mike, I agree that electric is possible and is in fact used for mining dumpers and the biggest diggers, either diesel electric or mains. However these machines are very powerful, a typical CAT 200 tonne dumper has a 1500HP diesel and the big excavators take several MW. The diesel electric drive means that no transmission is required and maximum power is available at any speed, particularly up the haul road to the mine top.

In diggers huge power is needed because both large forces and very rapid movement are required and a dumper may often be filled by only 1 to two bucket fulls at 50 or 60 dumpers an hour. There are pictures of some on you tube along with some equipment failures which are pretty dramatic, as well as some crushed smaller vehicles when they got in the way!

In reality these kind of things can never be battery powered, partly because they often run 24/7, and the battery weight would ruin the payload capability and charging would have to take only a minute or two, or perhaps swap batteries a few times a day.


The push to electrify the railways is also slightly difficult to understand, I remember the 125 trains when they started between Bristol and London. They did the non-stop journey in one hour to the minute, which was much better than the present service, but diesel electric of course which was much tidier on the eye when not on the train.