Caterpillar helps Customers Cope with Energy Transformation and Digital Revolution

Sustainable innovation is the driving force behind Caterpillar’s continuous progress. In the nearly 100 years of development, Caterpillar has always positioned itself as an “innovative enterprise.” Yang Chengjian, Caterpillar’s global senior vice president, said: “Innovation has always been Caterpillar’s DNA, the foundation of the company, and the key to survival and competition.”

Unmanned driving: more than 630 equipment transports more than 7.5 billion tons of materials in total

Caterpillar launched its first unmanned truck prototype as early as 1996. With nearly 30 years of in-depth exploration and practice, Caterpillar now has an unmanned truck fleet consisting of more than 630 equipment. So far, these unmanned trucks have helped global customers transport more than 7.5 billion tons of materials, equivalent to nearly 1,100 pyramids of Khufu.

In the mining field, unmanned operation is becoming the direction of industry development, among which unmanned mining trucks are the pioneers and focus of unmanned operation in mines. Cat® MineStar™ is one of the more comprehensive and comprehensive technology portfolios in the mining industry. At the end of 2023, Caterpillar and Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) reached a cooperation to equip 33 Cat 793 trucks at the Bagdad copper mine in Arizona, USA with the Cat MineStar™ Command application, turning the entire fleet into unmanned driving.

Caterpillar’s unmanned driving technology application scenarios are not limited to a single device. Its unmanned driving product portfolio has expanded from transport trucks to mining sprinklers, drills, bulldozers, wheel loaders and underground loaders, as well as semi-automatic and remote control technologies for various industries.

Alternative fuels: starting from the source, saving money and reducing emissions

Low-carbon fuels can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the source, and have stronger adaptability. They can be applied to almost all industries, so they have become an important choice for all walks of life to achieve their own emission reduction goals.

Currently, all Caterpillar diesel engines can use 100% hydrogenated vegetable oil, and gas turbines can use up to 100% hydrogen fuel. Many Caterpillar products can run on low-carbon intensity fuels, such as biodiesel, renewable diesel and biogas.

While reducing emissions, some Caterpillar products can also save more money. For example, its engines using dynamic gas blending (DGB) technology can not only replace diesel with up to 85%, but also use associated gas that escapes from the oil and gas site (usually burned directly or discharged into the atmosphere). Compared with traditional diesel engines, in actual application scenarios, equipment using this technology can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 50% and save up to 40% of fuel costs.

In early 2024, Caterpillar worked with Microsoft and Ballard Power Systems to confirm the feasibility of using large-scale hydrogen fuel cells to provide reliable and sustainable backup power for data centers. At the same time, the demonstration project verified the performance of hydrogen fuel cell power systems in extreme conditions such as high altitudes and sub-freezing temperatures.