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Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon
Caterpillar made an impression with a huge all-electric underground mining loader.
(All-electric underground mining loader )
...the real game-changer wasn’t the big mining rig, or even the electric excavator. Instead, it was Cat’s cutting-edge energy management systems to keep electric equipment charged up and ready to work.“We are thrilled to return to CES to showcase our advancements in energy solutions. This event is renowned as the proving ground for breakthrough technologies and global innovators, making it the ideal place for us to demonstrate our leadership in power systems and integrated service solutions, which help our customers in the energy transition,” said Rod Shurman, senior vice president of Caterpillar’s Electrification + Energy Solutions Division.
The earliest mention of an all-electric mining loader that I know of is the electric-powered caterpillar shovel from The Fortress of Utopia by Jack Williamson, published by Startling Stories in 1939:
Four hours later, dropping toward the Moon, Cartwright was amazed at the change that a month — and a few of his millions— had made in the central peak of Arzachel, now a hive of activity.Busy figures in white swarmed over the mountain. Big electric-powered caterpillar shovels had already leveled the mile-high summit. And the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble beneath the black mouths of half a dozen tunnels.
Okay, Caterpillar - now let's see you make all-electric underground mining loaders work on the moon! Tips available at Students Vie For Lunar Regolith Mining Robot Prize.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/13/2025)
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