- Dimaag's mobile battery charger has four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering.
- It has a nearly 300-kilowatt-hour battery.
- The MWCS can output between 1 and 6 megawatts of power.
Heavy machinery like excavators and other earth-moving equipment is slowly but surely going electric. That’s great for cutting emissions from jobsites, which are usually dirty, smelly, and noisy places. Going electric is also good for business owners because, over time, running costs go down compared to diesel-powered machinery.
But how do you go about recharging a 30-ton behemoth that has a maximum speed of 5 miles per hour? In a regular, road-going EV, a quick stop at a DC fast charger is the answer, but in a mine, not so much. But now, a Silicon Valley-based startup claims to have a solution.
It’s called a Megawatt Mobile Charger, and it’s exactly what it says on the box. Developed by Dimaag-AI, a startup founded by one of Tesla’s co-founders, it’s basically a huge battery on wheels that can go almost anywhere without having someone behind the steering wheel. It doesn’t even have a steering wheel–it’s remotely operated from the warmth of a heated control center.
That’s cool and all, but it’s the charging capabilities that stand out. With a 295-kilowatt-hour battery pack on board, the four-wheel-drive machine can output up to 6 megawatts of power to multiple connected EVs, making recharging slow and heavy machinery a breeze. That’s thanks to a modular DC to DC converter that can send a minimum of 1 MW of power through a Megawatt Charging System (MCS) connector. In this configuration, the driverless buggy can send a maximum of 1,000 Volts and 1,500 Amps.
The vehicle itself is powered by four electric motors, one for each wheel, making it all-wheel drive. It also has four-wheel steering for increased maneuverability, and can tackle inclines of up to 40%. The top speed is 22 miles per hour (35 kilometers per hour), and if the buyer is into high-tech vehicles, there’s the option of fitting an autonomous driving suite.
The best thing about the Megawatt Mobile Charger is that it’s not just a concept. Heavy equipment giant Komatsu just partnered with Dimaag, meaning the driverless battery on wheels will make its way to jobsites across the world soon.
“Despite the challenges in developing the market for electric construction equipment, primarily due to installation costs and the need for adequate power supply infrastructure, we remain committed to accelerating our efforts toward market development through collaboration with companies such as Dimaag, in pursuit of our challenge goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,” said Taisuke Kusaba, Senior Executive Officer (Jomu), CTO, Supervising Research & Development at Komatsu.
