The Anonymous Widower

Battery-Electric Power Rides The Rails

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Power Progress.

These two introductory paragraphs, outline the project.

In late October 2023, transportation solution provider Wabtec and its launch customer Roy Hill, an Australia-based iron ore mining company, celebrated the debut of the FLXdrive locomotive – a production model unit that Wabtec described as the “world’s first 100% battery-powered, heavy-haul locomotive for mainline service.”

The debut was the culmination of more than a decade of R&D that started at a time when battery technology and density were far more limited. Rogerio Mendonca, president, Freight Equipment, Wabtec, labeled the company’s earliest project as “more of a science pilot than anything else.”

I feel that this conversion of a diesel locomotive to a 7MWh battery-electric locomotive will be a significant milestone in freight haulage.

In the UK, we have 480 Class 66 locomotives.

Not all are used for heavy freight and you regularly see a single locomotive hauling a load that a lowered-powered battery electric locomotive could handle.

I suspect that if Roy Hill find this a capable locomotive, that we’ll see some Class 66 locomotives converted to battery-electric operation.

The article is well worth a full read.

February 14, 2024 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Battery-Electric Locomotives, Class 66 Locomotive, FLXdrive Battery, Freight, Roy Hill, Wabtec