LKAB, a state-owned Swedish iron ore mining company, has taken delivery of a unique electric mining truck from Scania. The 8×4 heavy tipper, nicknamed “Sleipner” after Odin’s legendary eight-legged horse, has entered operations in the Malmberget mine, transporting waste rock.

LKAB’s Malmberget mine is an iron ore mine that extends more than 1 km below the Earth’s surface, producing millions of tonnes of iron ore per year. But mining iron ore also generates waste rock, which must be cleared from the mine. And that’s where Sleipner comes in.

First Scania electric truck with two steerable front axles

Sleipner is a brand-new Scania 40R XT fully electric 8×4 heavy tipper with two steerable front axles. That makes it the first of its kind worldwide from Scanie. It’s a continuation of a previous Scania 6×4 heavy tipper used in the Malmberget mine since 2022, which only featured a single front steering axle.

Sleipner will transport waste rock from a chute-loading station to a backfilling site at Tingvallskulle, a route of approximately 5 kilometres with an elevation gain of 250 metres. Fully loaded, the truck weighs 60 tonnes, of which 38 tonnes is payload.

Complete replacement for a diesel truck

Driving range is less of an issue, but Sleipner does feature two MP20 battery packs with a total installed capacity of 416 kWh and a 400 kW EM C 1-4 electric motor. “If it performs as expected, we will have a fully fossil-free solution for transporting waste rock in truly demanding mining operations,” says Peter Gustavsson, Project Manager for Electrification of Mobile Machines at LKAB.

Sales of e-trucks are still marginal for Scania

Scania’s electric trucks are modular, meaning both the chassis configuration and battery packs can be adjusted to fit the client’s needs. But the market share remains marginal: only 117 e-trucks were sold in the first half of 2025 (an 88.7% increase over 2024), compared with nearly 50,000 trucks in total for the same period.