Electrifying the "Wild Bull"

How Brazil-made light utility vehicles are being used as the base for battery-electric vehicles that the underground mining industry has been waiting for – and what role components from the Technology Centre of STAUFF Australia play in this

STAUFF Evolve
22.04.2022
Dennis Volpato
Estimated read time: 5 minute/s

Electrifying the "Wild Bull"

How Brazil-made light utility vehicles are being used as the base for battery-electric vehicles that the underground mining industry has been waiting for – and what role components from the Technology Centre of STAUFF Australia play in this

STAUFF Evolve
22.04.2022
Dennis Volpato
Estimated read time: 5 minute/s

The Bortana EV was designed for underground construction

In addition to these curved pipes, STAUFF Australia also supplied the matching pipe clamps in accordance with DIN 3015 in the standard series and the double series

The Bortana EV is an electrically powered, high-performance vehicle developed explicitly for use in underground mining.

Before the Bortana EV, vehicles with conventional diesel engines were used. At 12 months, their service life operating in an aggressive environment was extremely low and uneconomical.

The emissions from the diesel engine also caused problems in the underground mines: harmful emissions, particle contamination and heat generation and the resulting high ventilation requirements.

This prompted Australian company Safescape, a mining supplier founded in 2010 and based in Bendigo (Victoria), to develop a special electric vehicle, based on a model from the four-wheel-drive Marruá ("Wild Bull") series from the Brazilian manufacturer Agrale. The Safescape engineers worked with Agrale to take the body of the conventional Diesel-powered vehicle, which was initially developed for military and public safety applications, and have it specifically built on the production line with a blank engine bay to create the Bortana EV.

With a payload of two tons, the Bortana EV now has a 160-kW motor with a torque of 350 Nm. The motor gets it’s power from a lithium-ion battery developed in Australia by 3ME Technology.

Safescape uses 19 mm OD coolant lines to keep the large batteries at the ideal temperature and 28 mm OD tubes acting as a conduit for the electrical cables protecting them against the influences of aggressive environmental conditions. Last but not least, manipulated tubes were manufactured and supplied by STAUFF Australia,  which also used STAUFF’s DIN 3015 range of fastening clamps in the Standard Series and Twin Series.

Technology Centre of STAUFF Australia

Pipe and Tube Manipulation from STAUFF

STAUFF offers pipe and tube bending solutions for a variety of different industries. In addition to manipulated pipe and tube assemblies for high-pressure hydraulic, lubrication and fluidpower applications, this also includes:

  • Measuring and control lines
  • Coolant lines
  • Exhaust systems
  • Charge air pipes
  • Roll-over protection structures / systems (ROPS)
  • Balustrades, hand rails and guard rails for architectural / civil projects
  • Shop floor displays
  • Playground equipment
  • Heavy-duty brackets

STAUFF is typically able to process the following designs in carbon steel, stainless steel and other materials:

  • Round and oval pipes and tubes
  • Square and rectangular pipes and tubes
  • Solid bar material
STAUFF Newsletter

Newsletter Subscription

Receive automatic e-mail notifications about new posts on the STAUFF Blog

Tags
Filter
Categories
Tags
Archive
Filter
Categories
Tags
Archive
Dennis Volpato
State Manager Victoria & Tasmania at STAUFF Australia
Dennis Volpato
EditMenuCloseResetCheckSpinnerFiltersCart