Press-centre

26 september 2023

BELAZ celebrated its 75th anniversary at the highest level! The culmination of the anniversary celebrations was an exclusive demonstration of our company's career super new products to partners and customers.

On Saturday, 23 September, having welcomed dear guests, BELAZ surprised the world with a top-premiere of its latest equipment. The real sensation of the presentation was the first of its kind models of quarry machines - BELAZ BX20012 hydraulic excavator with a 12m3 bucket and a 130-tons hydrogen-fuelled dump truck 7513M. Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko, Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Parkhomchik, Minister of Industry Alexander Rogozhnik, Minister of Economy Alexander Chervyakov and other officials came to see the know-how and get acquainted with the possibilities of the innovative machines in person.

A demonstration of BELAZ's high-profile new products was held at the plant's test site. The first excavator in the history of the plant - BELAZ BX20012 - made a spectacular debut in front of photo and TV cameras and immediately showed itself in action. The mining machine equipped with a volume bucket quickly loaded with rubble the huge body of a 130-tons dump truck BELAZ-7513D, by the way, the best-selling model last year on the Russian market.

– We have a very serious development programme for the machinery used in quarries. We strictly adhere to our long-term strategy. One of its principles is constant development. If you don't develop, you won't be competitive. That is why we clearly understand where we should go next, said Sergey Nikiforovich, General Director of BELAZ, during the presentation.

With its functionality, reliable design, performance, high degree of safety and comfort for the operator, the BELAZ excavator has turned out to be as good as the best world analogues. This mining giant with an efficient 1167 hp diesel engine and hydraulic drive of working equipment elements has a high breakout force of 770 kN and can be effectively used for mining rocks with density of 1.78 t/m3. Powerful undercarriage with reinforced track strength allows the 200-tons machine to feel confidently even on the most difficult soils, providing high cross-country ability and stability.

Roman Golovchenko, Belarusian head of government, carried out test drive of a BELAZ excavator, praised the comfort of the cabin and the ease of operating the machine. The implementation of this innovative project is another confident step towards import-independence of the mining industry in the context of external constraints.

Then another surprise awaited the guests of the presentation - under the fiery splashes of pyrotechnics and epic music, a new 130-tons BELAZ with a hybrid operation scheme combining hydrogen fuel cells with a total capacity of 200 kW and accumulator batteries with a capacity of 250 kWh proudly drove down the hill. Hydrogen is an innovative energy carrier, which replaced the diesel engine in the presented vehicle as a continuation of the project of the BELAZ-7513M hybrid dump truck.

– Such equipment is our future, emphasised Sergey Nikiforovich, the head of our enterprise. – We went to this step by step. We developed an electric dump truck, then a hybrid diesel-electric dump truck, and now we have the competences to create hydrogen-fuelled vehicles.

Calculation of the life cycle costs of a hydrogen dumper shows annual savings in consumables and fuel costs of 40-50% compared to the diesel version. It is also important that a hydrogen-powered dump truck is an environmentally friendly vehicle, as it will not pollute the air in the quarry with exhaust gases, only water vapour and heat will be released into the atmosphere.

– We are the world's first quarry equipment manufacturer to present such a development, none of the other manufacturers has ever done it, Alexander Naskovets, General Designer of BELAZ, emphasised. – This is a model sample to understand how it works, what kind of profit and savings we will get from it for the consumer. The benefits for the environment are already obvious. There is already an arrangement for the creation of several dump trucks to work in the quarry using hydrogen.

The technology and equipment for wide application of hydrogen as a fuel are rapidly developing, and having accumulated the necessary experience, BELAZ plans to launch hydrogen dump trucks with payloads of 90, 130 and 220-240 tons in the next few years.

On the same day, Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko and BELAZ General Director Sergei Nikiforovich launched the main conveyor shop of our enterprise after a large-scale modernisation. The first 90-tons dump truck came off the conveyor line. Now machines of this class of payload demanded by miners will be assembled in the shop along with 30-55 tons dump trucks.

- We are very pleased with the results of BELAZ, especially under the difficult conditions in which the company had to work, said Roman Golovchenko. - I believe that we have performed at a very good level both in terms of orders and revenue. Despite everything that is going on in the world, the enterprise works consistently and confidently. Today BELAZ is a symbol of Belarus' development, an independent enterprise that competes on equal terms with Japanese and American companies and is a technological leader in its segments.

The final chord of a very eventful Saturday was the evening ceremonial show "Leader's Way" at the "Torpedo" stadium - a bright dedication to BELAZ with numerous congratulations of the company's staff on the anniversary and awarding of honoured BELAZ employees.

A great gift for the guests that evening was also a concert programme with the participation of Belarusian and Russian artists, in particular, the famous band "Lyube" and an impressive fireworks that coloured the night sky over Zhodino.