130-ton electric trucks 4,000 feet beneath the surface of the Earth [video]

A Swedish mining company, LKAB, is now running two massive electric haul trucks nearly 4,000 feet underground at its Malmberget iron ore mine. Each truck weighs about 130 tons and carries a 624 kWh battery — for comparison, a home battery backup unit is typically 10 to 15 kWh — giving them roughly seven hours of run time on a full charge. Together the two trucks have already hauled more than 100,000 tons of ore. They fast-charge at up to 375 kW, so a full shift's worth of power takes about 80 minutes.

This is mining and industrial equipment news, not something that changes anything about your own house. But it is a useful data point on where battery technology is heading: engineers note the underground mine actually suits batteries well, since the temperature stays steady around 12 to 15 degrees Celsius (roughly 54 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit) year-round, which is close to ideal for battery performance. That's the same basic principle behind why home batteries and heat pumps work more efficiently when kept in a stable temperature range rather than exposed to extreme heat or cold.

LKAB says it wants 30 percent of its mining fleet electrified by 2027 and reports it's on track. There's no rebate, incentive, or purchasing decision here for homeowners — it's simply a sign that battery and electric-motor technology keeps scaling up into heavier, more demanding uses, which over time tends to push costs down and performance up across smaller consumer and home applications too.