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SANY's Cabless SKT145Ei: A Purpose-Built Autonomous Electric Mining Truck Hits the Scene
Autonomy & Robotics

SANY's Cabless SKT145Ei: A Purpose-Built Autonomous Electric Mining Truck Hits the Scene

By Heavy-shift 3 min read
SANY's Cabless SKT145Ei: A Purpose-Built Autonomous Electric Mining Truck Hits the Scene
SANY's Cabless SKT145Ei: A Purpose-Built Autonomous Electric Mining Truck Hits the Scene

SANY's Cabless SKT145Ei: A Purpose-Built Autonomous Electric Mining Truck Hits the Scene

Chinese OEM SANY has lifted the curtain on the SKT145Ei, a 90-ton class, cabless, battery-electric autonomous wide body mining truck that represents a clean-sheet approach to autonomous haulage. Unveiled at the company's Global Mining Key Customer Summit in Xi'an in May 2026, the SKT145Ei is not a retrofitted conventional truck — it was designed from the ground up for a driverless, electric future.

Reimagining the Mining Truck, Not Just Removing the Cab

SANY is careful to frame the SKT145Ei as more than a conventional truck with the cab chopped off. "Removing the cab was never the goal — reimagining the truck was," said Zhang Long from SANY's Intelligent Mining Solution team. "Retrofitting traditional mining trucks into autonomous operation is constrained by the original architecture, making it difficult to achieve optimal placement of sensors and controllers."

The cabless platform allows SANY to optimize sensor and controller placement from the outset, enabled by multi-sensor fusion perception combining LiDAR (supplied by RoboSense), millimeter-wave radar, and vision cameras. This system is engineered to handle harsh mining conditions — rain, fog, and heavy dust — that would degrade single-sensor approaches.

Technical Highlights

The SKT145Ei is built around an 801 kWh mining-grade battery platform, providing all-electric propulsion with significantly lower energy costs than diesel equivalents. SANY says electricity prices make for a substantial reduction in operating energy costs, delivering greater economic benefits to customers.

Safety is addressed through a triple-redundant braking system, ensuring fail-safe operation in the event of a primary brake failure. The truck's cabless design also reduces overall vehicle length, improving maneuverability on narrow haul roads — a common constraint in many mining operations.

The vehicle is part of SANY's broader Intelligent Mining Solution, which integrates autonomous trucks with cloud-based dispatching, vehicle–road coordination, and remote operations. This ecosystem enables mining companies to transition from individual truck operation to fleet-level management.

China's Lead in Autonomous Haulage

The SKT145Ei does not exist in a vacuum. China has emerged as a global leader in autonomous mining trucks, with multiple OEMs fielding operational fleets. SANY already has more than 50 autonomous trucks operating in Inner Mongolia, delivering real-world validation of its autonomous haulage technology.

The competitive landscape is active: EACON and Tonly have co-developed the EQ100E, a 90-ton class cabless, autonomous electric truck operating at a coal mine in Xinjiang. XCMG's 85-ton class ZNK95 is running a large fleet at the Yimin coal mine in Inner Mongolia, using Huawei's autonomous haulage system. Both the EQ100E and ZNK95 are also cabless, fully autonomous, and all-electric — signaling that Chinese OEMs have established a clear lead in this segment.

What This Means for Mining

The shift to cabless, autonomous electric trucks carries implications beyond technology. SANY emphasizes that autonomous mining is not about replacing workers — it is about moving them to safer, higher-value roles. "From driving trucks to managing fleets, monitoring, dispatching and remote control," Zhang Long said.

For mining operators, the value proposition is threefold: safer operations (no driver exposure to hazardous environments), lower operating costs (reduced energy consumption, extended maintenance intervals, fewer unplanned downtime events), and lower emissions through full electrification.

SANY's Position

With the SKT145Ei, SANY is making a clear bet on a future where mining trucks are designed as autonomous systems from the start, not retrofitted after the fact. By combining purpose-built autonomous architecture, battery-electric power, and a full ecosystem approach, SANY positions itself alongside EACON and XCMG as a leading force in China's — and potentially the world's — autonomous mining truck market.

Sources

Autonomy & Robotics Electrification