Wabtec Corp. debuted what it said is the world's first rechargeable battery-electric, heavy-haul locomotive for mainline service during an event held at its manufacturing facility in Erie.
It's the latest milestone for the development of Wabtec's FLXdrive locomotive product, which will play a major role in helping the company reduce carbon emissions across its global railroad operator customer base in the years and decades to come.
To date, Wabtec (NYSE: WAB) has at least 18 orders placed for its FLXdrive locomotive units across five railroad customers — Roy Hill, CN, Rio Tinto, BHP and Union Pacific. The company also has an order for 150 FLXdrive shunter locomotives from Kazakhstan's national railway company — Kazakhstan Temir Joly, which will use these locomotives in a rail yard to shuttle railcars to different locations.
Roy Hill, an Australian iron ore mining company owned by Hancock Prospecting, will be the first customer for Pittsburgh-based Wabtec to get this locomotive delivered, which is expected to occur by 2024 after traveling over 10,500 miles from the Erie plant to the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Upon its arrival, Roy Hill said it will use this FLXdrive unit as part of a hybrid locomotive consist that also features Wabtec-made locomotives powered by diesel fuel. With the use of regenerative braking, the FLXdrive unit will be able to charge its battery during the downhill portion of a 214-mile route so that it can then use the battery to help power the train for the return trip.
"This will not only enable us to realize energy efficiencies but also lower operating costs," Gerhard Veldsman, CEO of Hancock Prospecting Group Operations, said in a prepared statement. "The FLXdrive locomotive represents not only a first for the Pilbara, but a first for the mining industry."
When working in tandem with regular diesel engines, Wabtec has said that its FLXdrive locomotive can reduce fuel by 11%, a savings of more than 6,200 gallons of diesel fuel and resulting in an estimated reduction of 69 tons of CO2 emissions.
"This FLXdrive locomotive represents a major step in the journey to a low-to-zero-emission future in the rail industry," Rafael Santana, president & CEO of Wabtec, said in a prepared statement.
And that's a future that others in the rail industry and its adjacent partners are likely going to contribute to advancing as well.
Wabtec's debut of its FLXdrive locomotive for Roy Hill came a day after U.S. Steel Corp. showed off two locomotives that have been converted from diesel to battery power sources. The locomotives, built by Innovative Rail Technologies, are operating at U.S. Steel's Mon Valley Works' Edgar Thompson and Clairton Plants and are, according to the steel maker, expected to reduce airborne particulate matter emissions by 0.385 tons.
