Zijin Mining needed a 140-ton battery-electric haul truck for its Wulagen zinc mine in Xinjiang to meet aggressive zero-carbon operations goals. When the company surveyed the heavy machinery market, they found that the exact electric vehicle they required simply did not exist yet. So, they decided to engineer and build it themselves.
The mining operator partnered with Longking to design the LK220E. They have already manufactured 290 of these ultra-class electric trucks to keep up with the demands of their active operations. The engineering behind these vehicles is incredibly clever. Instead of waiting hours for standard charging, each truck houses a 770 kWh swappable battery pack. A full battery swap takes exactly four minutes, allowing the fleet to run continuously without major downtime.
The Economics of Zero-Carbon Transport
This transition away from fossil fuels completely rewrote the site’s operating budget. By charging the trucks using a local zero-carbon transport loop powered by wind and solar energy, Zijin Mining slashed its energy costs. The price to move material dropped from RMB 0.68 per tonne-kilometer using diesel down to just RMB 0.177 with electric power. The electric drivetrains also eliminate the complex, traditional transmission systems that frequently fail under extreme stress.
The LK220E rollout required intense proving grounds before the mass production run. Field testing began in February 2026 at the Julong Copper Mine, situated at an extreme average altitude of 5,300 meters. The trucks routinely hauled over 2,000 tonnes a day in thin air and freezing conditions, maintaining an equipment availability rate of over 90 percent throughout the testing period.
How the LK350E Contract Rewrites High-Altitude Mining Machinery
Following the successful deployment of the initial 290 units, the Julong Copper Mine officially signed a new contract with Zijin Longking for the next-generation LK350E. This upcoming model is a significantly larger electric haul truck designed specifically for ultra-large open-pit mines.
This internal manufacturing pivot proves that industrial resource companies are no longer forced to wait for traditional heavy machinery brands to release carbon-neutral equipment. By designing custom vehicles for their exact payload and altitude requirements, Zijin Mining bypassed the slow-moving procurement market entirely and created a scalable hardware blueprint for high-altitude operations.