Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

OK, but the engine is not running at max. performance.

 

So those were old, rather worn trucks, and not even real mining trucks. Mining trucks are build a bit more sturdy.

 

But they were free....... no cost because the were fully depreciated

 

Actually, because of the time spent idling while loading, and especially on a short haul (800' or less the truck will typically get back to the excavator before the previous truck is loaded) the fuel consumption of our artics is surprisingly low sometimes. I am however using smaller trucks (Cat 730s), but in a 10 hour day they will use as little as 30 gallons, or as much as 60. Rolling resistance incline/decline from load to dump, speed of loading equipment etc. obviously have a huge impact. A company that I used to work for was using Volvo A35s to haul aggregate up Sun Valley ski resort one summer, to the top of the mountain on the cat track. In that application we would have to fuel mid-day; probably in the neighborhood of 13 or so gallons per hour as I recall.

 

Nobody does.

 

I should clarify, the 800' is using two trucks, and with a well matched excavator it will take approximately 1.5 to 1.75 minutes to load. Once the excavator is waiting on trucks it is time to contemplate adding another truck, depending on conditions. Our excavator is a bit big for 30 ton trucks, but I averaged loading in 1 minute 6 seconds on our most recent job. A lot depends if you are able to keep the trucks on a loop without having to back into the excavator, as that requires more time, and hence more time waiting for the other truck.

Anyway, I'm getting way off in the weeds here, but the point is that a substantial portion of time of a haul truck is spent idling.

 

Interesting.....max inclination 15%. That'll never work for my jobs. I would like to see what the turning radius is as well, but cannot find it on their website. 294' or 7470 mm for a 730C.

 

Also interesting, FMX is not available in North America, just VHD 300.

 

The Dutch put them in like a very big circle so go around is next to impossible.

 

They can even see if you are wearing your seatbelt.