Well 180 metric is a two pass on a 360 metric haul unit. Basically my original point about miss match loading.
A 150 US ton is around 135 metric pass. An XPC ain't far off that. Not sure if we will see larger than 400 metric ton haulers. Think they might have hit the limit unless they go tandem. Don't know If you have any info on anything that big?
Keep in mind, you don't necessarily put the biggest bucket on a machine if it will handle it. If a machine had an ultimate capacity of 150 tons per pass, you could fit it with a slightly smaller bucket to three pass load your 400 ton trucks. But you can't throw on a larger bucket and expect the smaller shovel to handle it with no issues over time. Therefore, if you upsized the shovel capacity while in the design stages, you could utilize the larger machine to handle a larger array of buckets.
A 4100 XPC only has a capacity of 120 tons, or 109 tonnes.......that's a long ways from 136 tonnes when you add up the passes. You're talking 3/4 of a bucket on top of the three passes, so I'd say it is far off.
I think the next generation will be a steady three pass on a 797, T282 Size truck. Komatsu's haven't suggested a 360 metric yet.
By introducing a larger shovel that could 3 pass a 400 ton truck, or 3 pass a 450 ton truck, you'd have a machine that would appeal to more operators, than one that has a capacity aimed solely at one size class. If they're putting in the time, effort and money to build a larger shovel, might as well get as much bang for your buck as possible. So why not go bigger, as in able to 3 pass a 450 ton truck, instead of handicapping yourself right off the bat? I seem to remember the 795 was aimed around the 150 ton range.
Komatsu has to be able to catch up to the rest of the pack to play. Right now, they're living in the past........back when the 360 ton/326 tonne trucks were introduced. They have failed to step up to the same level their main competition is playing at, and their sales of the 360 ton trucks will suffer as a result....especially at the price they have put on them.
Tires mmm that's a weird on. The WA1200 here needs a break now and then because of tire heat, basically they don't make to many that size. This would be a huge problem for a company that ordered a large fleet of super haulers. Problems are there to be solved.
Just remember, loader tires, and haul truck tires are two very different animals. They initially tried using haul truck tires when building large loaders years ago. It didn't work well then, and doing the opposite won't work well now, or they would have put the larger loader tires on haul trucks already. Yes, there are issues to overcome, but with time, they will do it. I can see a larger truck in the future, but when.....that's the million dollar question right now.
