On October 28, the 21st China International Coal Mining Technology Exchange and Equipment Exhibition opened in Beijing. Mining truck OEM Tonly Heavy Industries and leading agnostic autonomous haulage technology provider EACON released the EQ100E, a distributed drive, all battery electric, autonomous and cabless mining truck.
These types of trucks are gathering momentum in China – earlier this year XCMG showcased a fleet of 100 ‘Huaneng Ruichi’ all electric, cabless and autonomous mining trucks operating at the Yimin coal mine it developed with Huawei and State Grid Smart Internet of Vehicles Co Ltd for customer Huaneng Inner Mongolia Eastern Energy Co Ltd.
Key features of the new EQ100E include a 100-ton (91 t) payload; 8 cameras and 4 LiDARs for 360° perception; distributed electric drive (1 MW power) with 35% improved slope-climbing; a redundant hydraulic brake system with 5% shorter stopping distance; 801/1,056 kWh battery options supporting both charging and swapping; plus the driverless design ensures physical isolation from hazardous environments.
The EQ100E, which is released with “accurate sight, fast running, braking and stable steering” as its core advantages, integrates distributed drive, pure electric zero-carbon technology and an all-terrain unmanned control system to achieve a higher level of operational economy, environmental adaptability and essential safety in complex mine scenarios. It is equipped with an all-weather terrain sensing system, a megawatt-scale full-time electric drive, an all-hydraulic redundant braking system and intelligent torque vector control, and achieves real-time optimisation of economic speed planning and microscopic dynamic torque coordination through the combination of intelligent energy management and cloud scheduling.
In attendance at the launch were Zhang Jianming, Vice-Chairman of the China Coal Society; Kong Liang, Under-Secretary-General of the China Mining Safety Assocation; Liu Lilong, Secretary-General for the Mines Professional Committee of the China Cement Association; Li Hongzhu, Dean of the School of Electronic Control at Liaoning University of Engineering and Technology; Wang Quanjia, Vice Chairman of Inner Mongolia Guangna Coal Industry (Group) Limited; Feng Junying, Head of the Material Procurement Department of China Metallurgical Group Copper and Zinc Co Ltd; Bosko Bacic, from the Stanari Thermal Power Plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina, part of Serbia’s EFT Group, and many other industry experts and representatives from various enterprises.
Kong Liang, Deputy Secretary General of China Mining Safety Association, emphasised in his speech that the promotion of “mechanised replacement, automomy-driven reduction of personnel, intelligent and unmanned” have become the industry consensus and are driving firm policies to improve the essential levels of mine safety. The statement said that the release of the EQ100E clearly shows that unmanned mining has moved from the technical verification stage to a new era of building a mature, replicable systematic solution.
Xu Yanan, Founder and major shareholder of Tonly Heavy Industry, said that the release of EQ100E is the result of continuous innovation. He said mine transportation has officially entered a new stage of distributed power, pure electric drive and driverless operation, bringing a new paradigm for safer, more efficient and greener transport in mining.
In his speech, Lin Qiao, EACON Mining VP, pointed out that true unmanned driving means using a completely new unmanned truck design from the underlying architecture, control logic and operating mode. He said the EQ100E allows safe and efficient operation of an unmanned mining truck in a complex mining environment because it solves the main challenges at a genetic level.
As of September 2025, more than 2,000 Tonly autonomous mining trucks are in operation. Tonly was the pioneer of China’s wide-body dump trucks in mining, and its products have been exported to more than 50 countries around the world – more than 60,000 units. Since the launch of strategic cooperation in 2019, Tonly and EACON say they have continued to inject innovation impetus into the industry, and the launch of the EQ100E represents another important milestone in the road of promoting the intelligent transformation and upgrading of mines.
In the future, EACON says it will work with Tonly and more eco-partners to jointly develop key technological advancements and standard systems. “The unmanned transportation of mines will move from single point breakthroughs to system integration, helping China’s mining industry achieve a safer, greener and more efficient high-quality development.”
