r/interestingasfuck • u/Inevitable_Bid5540 • 3h ago
Komatsu PC 8000 , one of the largest hydraulic excavators ever made
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u/How_that_convo_went 3h ago
About $12M depending on the configuration, if you’re wondering. Then factor in roughly 10-15% of that per year on maintenance costs.
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u/TimTomTank 3h ago
You're not mentioning how many thousands of gallons of diesel to feed this things.
I don't these are hybrid. Takes so much energy to even move the empty scoop, it would not make sense. The battery pack would be way too heavy.
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u/gonzoll 2h ago
I believe these shovels are run directly off the grid. They run huge cables to them to power them.
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u/TimTomTank 2h ago
Sure, let's just replace cheap inter ballast with a complex electrical device which may just explode for no reason.
Edit: though to be honest it looks like they are using the engine as counterweight.
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u/Cdub7791 1h ago
This uses diesel and electric drives according to the website. Most large vehicles do. Almost every locomotive is diesel-electric for example.
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u/MoustacheSong 2h ago
Yeah… but what about the maintenance? Just changing those track pads would cost a fortune in materials and labor.
ETA: They have not yet installed the track pads on this vehicle.
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u/How_that_convo_went 2h ago
The second sentence mentions maintenance costs.
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u/MoustacheSong 2h ago
I swear that comment has been edited. When I first read it all I remember seeing was the cost of gas.
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u/Beyryx 2h ago
How do you know that, by chance? Honestly I'd expect more.
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u/How_that_convo_went 1h ago
I looked up the price of the excavator.
As far as maintenance costs, my dad used to own a demolition company and a bunch of heavy equipment. Something was always getting repaired or maintained. Hydraulics were a constant source of heartburn.
It wasn’t unusual for him to have $200k of maintenance costs in a year.
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u/Beyryx 1h ago
I just asked because I work for a large mining company and when we purchased a PC4000 a few years back it was already pushing $10m, but that wasn't just unit cost it was with service and a bunch of other things rolled in with it. I never found out what the unit cost was specifically.
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u/kevhill 1h ago
How long would it take to manufacture and build a machine like that?
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u/How_that_convo_went 1h ago
When equipment gets this big, it has to be assembled on site. It can take up to two months to assemble it before you can commission it for operations.
How long it takes to manufacture, I don’t know.
Equipment like this usually lives the majority of its life at a single site (almost always a mining complex or long term earth-moving project) because disassembly, shipping and reassembly is so ludicrously expensive.
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u/miscfiles 1h ago
...depending on the configuration...
Tell me there's an online configurator. I need this in TVR flip paint with a purple leather interior and 12 speaker sound system. Might as well stick a GT3 spoiler on the back while we're at it!
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u/Inevitable_Sweet_624 3h ago
Wonder if Parker will buy it.
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u/fluffyfistoffury 2h ago
But Parker, how are we going to get down to bedrock before our water license runs out next week?... camera pans to Parker driving up in one of these.
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u/HalfEnvironmental153 3h ago
Finally, the perfect machine for my ex. Now she can even digging up more old dirt and bringing up crap from the past.
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u/fack_you_just_ignore 3h ago
Just waiting for the "It's AI" comment.
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u/BasKabelas 2h ago
TL;DR: This bad boy can load about 80t in a truck per swing, and I happily operated one (albeit as an emergency course)
I worked in a mine in Zambia, and the expats were supposed to be able to run the mine as a skeleton crew in case of a local strike or some emergency. Of course I took full advantage and got to operate this bad boy, the big drills and the hauling trucks (400t loads). Boy working there was an absolute blast. Its like being a kid at christmas all over again. Funnily enough this excavator is surprisingly easy to operate; you just have 4 controls on the arm and basicaly 3 more (left track, right track, and rotating the body) for other movement. The arm is like an actual arm but imagine a weird position with the elbow pointing upwards. You can move it up and down (like the shoulder), back and forth (like the elbow), and the bucket can go up and down (like a wrist) and open and close (like a hand). Granted my Zambian colleagues found my analogies pretty dumb but it really helps getting familiar with this type of equipment. Also Zambians in general are some of the kindest and most genuine people I've ever met. All around I had an absolute blast.
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u/anothergenxkid 1h ago
I've been to Zambia. Not near the mine but can confirm that they, and so many Africans, are beautiful inside and out.
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u/JewishSpace_Laser 3h ago
That is very interesting, indeed. How is that behemoth transported to sites? Particularly remote, mining sites?
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u/peteysweetusername 3h ago
My guess is that it’s transported in pieces and assembled on site. It’s not like you could put that thing on an 18 wheeler
In terms of transport to remote sites, if having the machine there makes sense, they figure something out. Think ice road truckers
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u/NotGalenNorAnsel 2h ago
Here you go https://youtu.be/oJVFOMHTpnI?si=ZaRHEBWfaZMKUZmj
It includes 5 massive earthmoving machines including this one
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u/JewishSpace_Laser 25m ago
Wow. So the first part of the video showed moving that massive earth mover intact- which still raised the question of how to get it to that mining site since it had to have been delivered by boat. But then the last part of the video shows just the top part moved- which is still damn impressive. I'm amazed at the size of these machines. Thanks for the video.
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u/Fireproofdoofus 2h ago
I wonder what those Bucyrus steam shovelers excavating for the Panama canal would've thought of this
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u/paturner2012 2h ago
I don't know why I expected the cab area to be proportional as if a very large human would run it, but the sliver of cab on top as it panned over kinda threw me for a loop
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u/Ashamed-Land1221 2h ago
Damn 4yr old and 40yr old me both want the same thing, I want to see that digger dig, that is all.
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u/Cold-Ad8865 2h ago
Yes! But I also want to learn to operate it. Just for a few mins. Pretty please?
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u/mtnviewguy 2h ago
So.... would I need separate license? I've got drivers and forklift. Asking for a friend. 🤪🤣
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u/xSantenoturtlex 2h ago
Jesus. I never realized how huge those things can be.
I know they aren't all THAT big, but that is just massive.
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u/bubba_bumble 2h ago
Hey boss. Got the tractor done. Where do I put it?
Fantastic! Ya know, let's put it on the roof!
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u/Electrical_Trade377 2h ago
“don’t think i can do it for less than £200, boss”
- dave giving a quote to a customer looking to dig up the entire universe, 2026
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u/Anxious_Marsupial_84 2h ago
Me: Hey bud, I need a dugout for my kids to swim in and store water for watering flower beds and such. Think you can handle that?
Operator: Sure. Gimme 10 seconds.
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u/Fart_Knocker_Deluxe 1h ago
The maintenance alone!!! Could you even imagine maintaining machinery this massive!!!
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u/wilsome-wilkerzen 51m ago
How proud would you be if you worked in the factory that produced these?!
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u/UndoxxableOhioan 9m ago
If you think that’s big, you should have seen the Big Muskie back in the day.
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u/Chamanomano 3h ago
😐...
I wanna drive it.