**3. Truck energy consumption**

The hauling of mined material from a pit to a stockpile, dumpsite, or the next step in the mining process is accomplished by trucks at a surface mining operation. Their use may be combined with other types of machinery, such as loaders, diggers, and excavators, depending on the layout and production capacity of the site [28–31]. Surface mines in Australia use a considerable amount of diesel and are costly to purchase, maintain, and operate [28].

It is insufficient to analyze only the parameters specific to a haul truck to estimate its energy efficiency. By expanding the analysis of how energy is used throughout an entire fleet, companies can often find more significant benefits [32, 33]. This chapter is concerned with the identification and optimization of these parameters.

A fleet's energy efficiency can be affected by a variety of factors, including the rate of mining at a particular site, the age and condition of its equipment, the payload, the truck speed, and truck cycle time, the mine layout and plan, the idle time, tire wear, rolling resistance, dumpsite design, engine operating parameters, and shift patterns. By combining this knowledge with mine planning and design procedures, energy efficiency can be improved [34–38].

#### **3.1 Mine operating parameters**

Trucks in mines can use a variety of parameters that can influence how much energy they use, some of which are listed in **Table 4**.

#### **3.2 Truck travel time**

The time spent hauling and returning the payload is referred to as the travel time. There are four methods for calculating travel time: time study, Rimpull curves, empirical calculations, and computer simulation. Time study is the most common method.


#### **Table 4.**

*Parameters that influence the energy consumption of haul trucks [21, 39, 40].*
