Hitachi Rail is working with Turntide Technologies to design and manufacture traction battery systems for trial installation on an inter-city trainset. Turntide said installing traction batteries to make a Hitachi electro-diesel trainset into a tri-mode unit could cut fuel usage and reduce carbon emissions by at least 20%, with battery power used in stations and as a ‘much faster, more affordable’ alternative to installing overhead lines on non-electrified routes.
‘The electric car industry has already proven the battery solution’, said Jim Brewin, Hitachi Rail’s Chief Director UK & Ireland. ’The real challenge has been to scale this technology designed to power a 2 tonne vehicle for a 200 to 400 tonne train.
‘It’s not as simple as just making the battery bigger. Hitachi Rail’s engineers, in collaboration with Turntide, have been working for more than a year on creating the necessary algorithms and software to achieve this upscaling.’
Turntide said the planned trials could make the UK ‘a global leader in inter-city battery train technology’ with the potential for mass production of battery modules at its sites in Gateshead, Sunderland and Cramlington.