General Motors will collaborate with Pennsylvania-based locomotives manufacturer Wabtec to develop new Ultium lithium-ion battery and Hydrotec hydrogen fuel cell solutions for use in heavy long-haul trains.
In a statement released Tuesday, the two companies said they have signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding to develop new locomotive solutions that will take advantage of GM’s advanced propulsion technology, which includes its Ultium lithium-ion battery packs and Hydrotec hydrogen fuel cells. Technical information on how the two companies might integrate battery-electric or hydrogen propulsion technology into heavy long haul trains was not provided.
GM Ultium battery pack
“Rail networks are critical to transportation and to GM’s ability to serve our customers across North America, and Wabtec’s bold plan to de-carbonize heavy haul and other locomotive applications helps advance our vision of a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion,” GM president Mark Reuss said in a statement. “Wabtec’s decision to deploy GM’s Ultium battery and Hydrotec hydrogen fuel cell systems further validates our advanced technology and demonstrates its versatility.”
GM says its Ultium battery technology “is anticipated to provide the flexibility, efficiency, power and reliability needed for rail.” The automaker’s Ultium battery packs will be produced at its various battery plants around the U.S. and are the result of a joint venture partnership with Korean battery manufacturer LG Chem.
GM Hydrotec fuel cell cube
GM’s Hydrotec fuel cell cubes, meanwhile, are currently being engineered for use in Navistar semi trucks, where they are expected to provide over 500 miles of range and refueling times of less than 15 minutes. The automaker previously described the cubes as a “zero-emissions alternative to diesel engines that work multiple shifts, require rapid refueling and travel with heavy payloads.” The fuel cells were jointly developed by GM and Honda and will be produced by the two automakers’ joint venture manufacturing partnership, Fuel Cell Systems Manufacturing, LLC.
“By working with GM on Ultium battery and Hydrotec hydrogen fuel cell technologies, we can accelerate the rail industry’s path to decarbonization and pathway to zero-emission locomotives by leveraging these two important propulsion technologies,” said Wabtec CEO Rafael Santana.
GM has not provided a timeline as to when its battery and fuel cell tech for locomotives will be market ready. Wabtec previously developed a battery-powered long haul train prototype of its own called the FLXDrive, which features a 2,400 kWh lithium-ion battery pack (or 2.4 mWh) and a top speed of 75 mph. The electric train underwent a successful test in a hilly part of California last year, where it delivered an 11 percent average reduction in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for an entire train over a 350 mile route.
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Comments
It would be interesting to see EMD come back to GM.
Ha! Ha! Yes, I was thinking the Same thing. It would be cool if they had the look of the old E-Type Locomotives that were ubiquitous in the 1950s.
If you mean the ones like those that graced the front of the Super Chief, the Pacific Daylight, and the San Diegan, YES!!! I look at those, and see American Design at its finest. I see today’s Amtrak locos and see Joy River Camp #27 Design Collective.
Note that they show a GE engine in the pictures, wonder if there’s an agreement to supply them with the tech or just what they could get ahold of to test on. I don’t see Cat giving up EMD, it fits nicely in their business. But who knows
Could be just a handy stock photo.
Top photo looked like a real iron unit with Wabtec’s trade dress. They do have BNSF’s logo on there though, maybe this is a partnership through the railroads to retrofit as opposed to OEM
GE is out of the locomotive business, they sold the operation to WABCO. Much like GM sold EMD to Progress Rail, a Caterpillar company.
This is interesting, I think there are many steps to making rail greener, some more expensive than others, but I have always wondered why trains to not have a battery to capture the waste energy on downgrades, and while slowing rather then just cooking that energy off as heat as they do today? Ultimately though, why are we not just making trains fully Electric and stringing wires along the tracks, and install a much smaller diesel or Hydrogen fuel cell generator.
There may be a tradeoff between the energy recovered on the downgrade vs the energy to haul the extra weight of the batteries up the next hill.
Regenerative energy is used in things like mines where the train going down into the mine uses dynamic braking; the energy goes into the overhead wires and makes its way to the train going up.
As for extensive installation of wires, generator stations along the way and other aspects, the enviro-nuts would tie that all up in court for decades.
Same on high speed rail systems, trains slowing generate energy for trains accelerating.
I think most greenies would like to see electric trains, at least in a test case for smaller spur lines, and in the mountainous areas would be a huge energy savings over the Black Smoking diesel monsters we use today. It is very noticeable today when you see a tier 4 train go by, no smoke, which is better, but still a lot of NOX, and other emissions.
They’ve proposed hybrid trains for years. Long-distance trains don’t stop or go for traffic, they don’t accelerate to change lanes, they get going and stay going. There’s limited energy recovery opportunities other than hills. Mountains are great, but they are many tens of miles going up then down, so there often isn’t enough battery capacity to make a difference.
This also works great for train speed optimization, which is in wide use today. The system has detailed maps of the terrain, the engine characteristics and knows weight of the train. The system calculates the exact optimum speed and a GPS equipped tablet shows the driver what to drive. For example, it would tell a driver to speed up going down a hill before going up an immediate next one, so energy is being stored kinetically instead of in a battery. For 0 weight and 0 hardware and tiny costs, they get 3-5% savings.
When I see trains on down grades, I always see massive heat going out the top, that is energy that can be recovered… bottom line. Trains are big polluters, and need to be made better where possible.
It’s just where to put that much energy that’s been the problem
Energy recuperation is being done on all-electric trains which take their power from overhead wires or a third rail.
I think that most trains in USA, especially freight trains, are drawn by diesel locomotives. If these are diesel-electric (EMD meant Electro Motive Diesel), i.e. the diesel engine is nothing but a generator of electrical current while the wheels resp. wheel sets are being moved by electrical motors.
In such a case, a battery for energy recupartion on braking and downhill could be useful.
When the diesel generator is being replaced by a fuel cell, this calls even louder for a buffer battery and energy recuperation.
10% improvement in emissions??? that’s it??? if you are switching from diesel to battery/fuel cell, shouldn’t it be higher?
Overtime it adds up, remember it still takes emissions to create power to charge these batteries too. These trains should imo have hybrid power trains to regenerate power
“progressives” will absolutely spend money for essentially no reason, it’s what they do best.
a much faster, cheaper way to get a diesel engine to run much cleaner and have even more power is to use a propane boost system that injects propane through the turbo. heavy haul highway trucks have used this system for almost 20 years. propane runs even cleaner than CNG natural gas because propane contains about 37 percent hydrogen. CNG has no noticeable hydrogen content. The reason that propane works so well as a boost system in a diesel engine is that the LPG molecules are about 4 times smaller than diesel fuel droplets when they are injected. Each droplet of diesel attracts 4 to 5 propane droplets and they help the diesel fuel burn much hotter and much cleaner while putting out more power for every drop of diesel fuel. Huge increases in MPG in a Class 7 or Class 8 truck with a 7 litter diesel, showed an increase in fuel mileage of between 18 to 32 percent in various tests. The big advantage when using a propane boosts system is that there is no carbon buildup in the engine because it burns so clean. The pump price of LPG is exactly half the pump price of gasoline today and has been close to that price ratio for the past 40 years. Propane is also 104 octane whereas diesel fuel is about 120 Cetane or octane rating.
How about marine applications, Fuel cell/battery tech are perfect for all boats and large ships.
A company in Norway is working on electric ship
Interesting seeing gm in the locomotive business again.
GM will not build the locomotive, only the driving power
This is best for “pusher” lines (extra locomotive for climbing steap hills), railyards and some passenger lines but it will be a while for long haul work.
In Germany, they begin to operate electric driven multiple units in regional passenger transport with the electricity being delivered by fuel cells with hydrogen.
The Hessen regional transit authority (RMV = Rhein-Main Verkehrsverbund) had ordered 29 such multiple units. The hydrogen will be delivered by the chemical industry on the former Hoechst AG industry park, where one process produces hydrogen as a by product, which can be put to practical use by powering the fuel cells in trains.
Also in other areas similar initiatives are being taken.
But not yet in big locomotives of freight trains.