Fortescue EV supply chain shift: systems and risk takeaways for mine electrification
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Fortescue is reshaping its Pilbara decarbonisation strategy by shifting battery pack manufacturing for its electric haul and mining fleet away from Fortescue Zero while retaining Fortescue Zero for power systems architecture and integration. CEO Dino Otranto says the company is diversifying its EV supply chain across multiple OEMs and battery suppliers as it pushes towards its “Real Zero” operational emissions target, including large battery-electric haul trucks and ancillary equipment. The move signals tighter focus on systems engineering, interoperability and vendor risk management for high-capacity mine electrification.
Technical Brief
- Control and communication interfaces will be standardised so third‑party battery packs and drivetrains remain interoperable.
- Vendor diversification requires common safety, isolation and fault‑protection philosophies across multiple high‑voltage battery suppliers.
- Systems engineering focus enables staged fleet conversion, allowing diesel and electric fleets to co‑exist during transition.
- Similar large‑scale mining electrification programmes will likely adopt a similar split between systems integrator and component OEMs.
Our Take
Fortescue’s Pilbara decarbonisation push now spans both mobile fleets and fixed power, with the recent large-scale BESS deployment at its iron ore operations signalling that Real Zero planning is being integrated across haulage, processing and site power rather than treated as a standalone vehicle project.
Within our 136 Mining stories, Fortescue is one of the more frequently recurring Australian names in sustainability-tagged coverage, which suggests its Real Zero work in Western Australia is likely to set informal benchmarks for other Pilbara operators looking at electric haulage and on-site renewables.
The confidential settlement with Element Zero, another Fortescue-linked decarbonisation story in our database, underlines how aggressively Fortescue is defending low-carbon intellectual property, a factor EV and battery suppliers into Fortescue Zero will need to manage contractually when co-developing technology for Pilbara operations.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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