BYD invests over US$14 million in electric and autonomous mining truck company Boonray
Shanghai-headquartered Boonray Technology, one of China’s leading providers of electric and autonomous mining trucks and associated technology has announced that BYD has made a strategic investment in the company of RMB100 million which equates to about US$14.4 million. It says this investment helps to further its position as a global leader in new energy mining vehicles and battery technology, and places great recognition and strategic endorsement on the technology system and business model built by Boonray in the electrification and autonomy of mining vehicles.
It says its intelligent scheduling full-stack technology closed loop, as well as its “intelligent vehicle, intelligent transportation, and intelligent mine” diverse implementation models, not only provide an economically viable zero-carbon transformation solution for traditional mines, but also offer ultra-high reliability and efficiency in practice.
This strategic funding from industry giants will be mainly used to strengthen R&D investment, expand intelligent production capacity, accelerate domestic and international market expansion, and deepen industrial and green mining cooperation. Boonray: “BYD’s deep battery, power control technology and large-scale manufacturing experience in the field of electric vehicles will form strong synergy potential with Boonray’s expertise in intelligent mining vehicles and unmanned scenes.”
It says the two sides are expected to engage in deep cooperation in technology research and development, supply chain optimisation and product exploration for specific scenarios, and to jointly promote the innovative application of new energy and smart technologies in the mining industry in China and around the world.
Li Qian, Secretary of the Board of Directors and Chief Investment Officer of BYD Group said: “We continue to find and invest globally in core technologies that will be powerful for our business…Boonray’s full-stack technology system in the field of mine autonomous driving and green energy recharge is impressive, with solutions that hit the operational pain points of traditional mines. This is not only highly complementary to BYD’s core technological strengths in the field of electrification and intelligentisation, but also fully compatible with our own…we look forward to working with Boonray Technology to deeply integrate new energy and intelligent technology, and provide a more competitive Chinese solution for the green transformation of global mining.”
Boonray also recently cited a new benchmark for operational efficiency with a fleet of its 145 t class BLEB145A1 type autonomous mining trucks at a large coal mine in Zhundong, Xinjiang, which set what it says is an industry record of 200 battery swaps in a single day.
The company stated: “The stable, high-intensity continuous operation capabilities represented by this figure profoundly reveal the potential of the intelligent transformation of mine transportation. Underpinning this extreme operational performance is the integrated coordination capabilities of Boonray technology across the whole chain, from intelligent vehicles and intelligent battery swapping equipment to intelligent scheduling systems.”
Boonray’s BLEB145A1 driverless mining truck operates in tandem with its in-house developed unmanned battery swap station. Based on its autonomous drive by wire control systems, the vehicle can complete driving and parking autonomously. The battery swap station fully autonomously carries out battery replacement, and the whole process takes no more than 5 minutes, and the success rate is as high as 95.16%, which Boonray says is far above the industry average.
A second intelligent and autonomous battery swapping station is also running at a mine in Hami, Xinjiang with a truck fleet operated by contractor Junrui Zhongyan and with the station developed together with battery technology specialist Jinmao Yilu.
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