Diesel machines have been the mainstay production equipment in underground mines worldwide for decades due to their high productivity and versatility. However, they produce significant amount of greenhouse gas emission and toxic atmospheric contaminants in the form of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), and Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM). They emit significant amount of heat to the mine atmosphere that can cause too hot working conditions. They consume significant amount of diesel fuel annually. The continue usage of these machines is not in line with what sustainable underground mining in the future should be, which produces zero greenhouse gas emission, has significant improvement in health and safety working conditions, and has low operating costs. Electrification of the mining fleet is a critical step to achieve the above aspects. Unlike diesel machines, electric vehicles do not produce greenhouse gas and toxic atmospheric contaminants. They produce significantly less heat and noise than their diesel counterparts. Therefore, they can reduce ventilation requirement and subsequently the electrical power used to run ventilation fans, which comprises about 40% of the total mine electrical power cost. Moreover, replacing diesel machines with electric vehicles will significantly reduce diesel fuel cost for mines that get their electricity from carbon-free generation. This is the case with the mines in Sweden and Finland where they get it from hydroelectricity and nuclear power plants. These reductions are significant in lowering the mine operating costs.

Within the European Union (EU) mining industry, there are other strong motivations to electrify the mining fleet in underground mines, namely the 2050 Zero Carbon Emission target and the new exposure limit for NO2 and DPM. This new exposure limit will be the lowest among mining jurisdictions worldwide when it is enforced in 2023 and 2026 respectively, which makes it very challenging for EU underground mines to comply if they keep using diesel machines. Therefore, several governments’ funded studies and field trials of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), the only available type of electric vehicles that are currently suitable for all types of underground mining, have been carried out in underground mines in Sweden and Finland, two EU member states, since 2019. The author has been involved in some of these studies and field trials and has found strong evidence that replacing diesel machines with BEVs will be a major step to achieve the aspects of future sustainable underground mining. Results of the studies and field trials are outlined in this paper, as well as an analysis of the caveats of the electrification of underground mining fleet.