At a ceremony at its manufacturing base in Xuzhou, China this week, XCMG unveiled two super large battery electric machine prototypes for customer Fortescue – the XC9260BEWL (battery electric wheel loader) and a sister machine, the XC9260BEWD (battery electric wheel dozer). The machines will now be shipped to Fortescue’s iron ore mining operations in the Pilbara in Western Australia for field application testing and optimisation.
The event was attended by a delegation from Fortescue including Chief Executive Growth and Energy Gus Pichot, with XCMG representatives including XCMG President Lu Chuan and VP Liu Jiansen. The delegation also visited the XDE150ES battery electric water truck along with other equipment.
XCMG had already produced a four-wheel independent electrical-drive loader of this size, the XC9260XE, which was at Bauma 2025 – as well as a larger machine, the XC9350XE – these units have an AC-DC-AC piezoelectric transmission system.
However, these latest all battery electric machines represent another evolution from these machines, and are significant because of their zero emissions and due to their size. For comparison, the XC9260XE has a weight of 126 t and rated load of 26 t with a standard bucket of 11.5 m3. The XC9350XE has a rated load of 35 t. The exact specifications of the new XC9260BEWL and XC9260BEWD have yet to be released but XCMG has confirmed the BEV loader also has a 26 t payload.
XCMG had already produced a large battery wheel loader, the XC9150-EV, launched in 2025 an equipped with a 1,002 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery and supporting fast DC charging. This machine has an operating weight of 55 t, a 15 t rated load and 8 m3 bucket.
IM Editorial Director Paul Moore visited XCMG’s wheel loader facility in June 2025 – the current factory opened in June 2012 and has an annual production capacity of 40,000 wheel loaders including 2,000 larger wheel loaders. Today XCMG is one of only three companies globally producing ultra large wheel loaders models along with Caterpillar and Komatsu.
IM Editorial Director Paul Moore at XCMG’s Xuzhou wheel loader factory in China
XCMG has the added advantage of having the XCMG New Energy Power Technology factory on the same site in Xuzhou, also visited by IM, which is a joint venture with BYD and produces BYD’s lithium iron phosphate Blade Battery cells for use in XCMG’s construction and mining equipment.
BYD Blade batteries adopts a dual-layer stacking design for battery cells, in contrast to the single-layer stacking commonly used in the industry, so that the space utilisation of battery packs can be further enhanced. This is combined with a high-strength PACK design and a robust thermal management system. These battery packs can also be configured for battery swapping stations in mining in addition to fixed charging.
These super large battery machines form part of a US$400 million deal signed between Fortescue and XCMG in 2024 covering over 100 pieces of zero emissions Heavy Mobile Equipment – which woudl see “battery electric wheel loaders, wheel dozers, water carts, float prime movers and graders delivered to Fortescue’s Pilbara mining operations by 2030.”
This was followed in 2025 by another agreement as part of which XCMG is expected to supply up to half of Fortescue’s future fleet of 300 to 400 zero-emissions 240 t haul trucks, with phased deliveries planned from 2028 to 2030.
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