Fortescue orders electric graders from MacLean
Just a fortnight ago, Fortescue publicised a major order from Liebherr, including the delivery of 475 new electric vehicles for mines in Western Australia. Now the Australian company is continuing its shopping spree. Between 2026 and 2029, they will be purchasing a fleet of 30 GR8 EV electric graders from Canadian manufacturer MacLean, which will be used in Fortescue’s mining operations in Western Australia.
As with Liebherr, this is not a classic manufacturer-customer relationship, but Fortescue is contributing its own battery-electric drive system to the development and production, which comes from Fortescue’s in-house technology division Fortescue Zero. This is installed in the graders, which are construction machines for levelling large areas.
“We’ve been in the underground mining vehicle business for over 50 years and as a manufacturer we have almost a decade under our belts with our full-fleet electrification program. Our track record to date is 25 vehicle models battery electrified, 100 EV units sold from bolters to boom trucks to shotcrete sprayers to graders, and half a million operating hours logged. Now we’re turning our sights to surface mining operations,” stated MacLean CEO, Kevin MacLean.
“Surface mining vehicle electrification represents the dawn of a new era at MacLean, but it’s one with a deep foundation in our past as a manufacturer of fit-for-purpose solutions for the mining industry,” added David Jacques, Vice President – Surface Mining Vehicles at MacLean. “We’re taking all the learnings from our GR5 Underground Grader commercialization and our years of experience in underground BEV design, manufacturing, and site support, and putting it to good use in the context of surface mining electrification.”
The Canadian manufacturer has long relied on technology from Xalt Energy and Freudenberg Battery Power Systems, both subsidiaries of the German supplier Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FTS), for the electrification of its construction machinery. Specifically, MacLean uses the XMP76P battery subpack from Freudenberg Battery Power Systems.
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