Siemens Mobility has remained at the forefront of battery electric technology globally and stands ready to bring the same technology to Australia.
Battery electric has come into vogue in cars over the past few years, but Siemens Mobility has been developing the technology in its rolling stock since 2014.
Across Europe, many of the rail lines are already electrified however there are smaller lines or gaps in between the lines with distances of 80 to 100 kilometres. Siemens Mobility’s technology development was centred around bridging that gap.
Jens Lind, international sales director for locomotives at Siemens Mobility, said the company has been committed to improving its battery electric options.
“We began this journey with battery operations across Austria where we carried out testing with varying slopes,” he said.
“What we learnt was that we could go far above the 80 kilometres we were looking for and we began developing the battery system from that point.”
Lind said that to those outside of rail, it could appear that the industry is slow moving when it comes to updating and upgrading technology, but the life cycle of rolling stock can make transitioning toward zero emissions challenging. Siemens Mobility is finding ways to speed up the process.
“We have our robust Research and Development (R&D) programs to continually develop new technology to support rail’s decarbonisation.
“We are not only invested in battery electric. Our R&D operates on parallel tracks where we focus on hydrogen development and our battery electric development separate to each other, our battery electric system is just further along the journey.”
Lind said that while heavy haul and passenger rail can have vastly different axle loads, the learnings can be shared across both.
“It is about scalability and taking our learnings from other areas and bringing it to heavy haul,” he said.
“Australia is a strong market and is ready to begin pilot programs to test the battery electric locomotives capability.
“While we have not applied these systems in Australia, we have done so in similar hot and sandy conditions. We are ready to bring this technology to the country.”
Battery electric systems
Siemens Mobility is prepared for the battery electric transition in Australia, the company already operates several wired electric locomotives in some of the harshest regions in the country. Lind explained that the obvious challenge will be utilising this system in Australian conditions, but the company has excellent experience in Doha to draw on.
Siemens Mobility has been developing its battery electric rolling stock for a significant period and has been at the forefront of the sector’s decarbonisation journey.
Lind said the Federal Government’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 confirmed the company was travelling in the right direction.
“Even before the 2030 targets came out, we were beginning to make this change from diesel to electric,” he said.
“We are an electrical company, so this was a logical step, we then understood we needed to develop our battery systems. We have complete faith in the functionality of our battery systems working in any environment.”
Having used battery electric solutions for close to a decade, Lind believes the company has ironed out any potential issues and has full faith in its systems.
“We know it will work because we have done it so many times for so many operators,” he said.
Lind said that Siemens Mobility is working closely with organisations in the field – whether it be heavy haul operators or mining companies – to understand how it can support the battery electric transition.
“They understand this is something they need to begin looking at as the net zero targets approach and we are fully ready to support them in that area.”
He went on to explain that while the initial cost of battery electric machines may be higher than diesel, there is less maintenance.
“The maintenance of the locomotive is reduced to simply removing parts that deteriorate due to wear and tear, greatly reducing costs for operators,” he said. “Those maintenance costs are being moved into the OpEx instead.”
Siemens and decarbonisation
Lind said that Siemens is “all in” on its decarbonisation journey and has for years been moving away from diesel-powered locomotives.
“It was an easy solution as electrification was something we had done for years in other parts of the business and then it was about building that up.”
He said the company has been seeking to improve efficiency in rail for a long time, but it made a clear commitment to a green transition many years ago.
That commitment has attracted young people into the business.
“They see that what we are doing is supporting their future and their children’s future.”
With ten years of battery system development, Siemens Mobility has experience with a range of systems and on different networks, and it continues to make improvements.
“We are getting better at charging the batteries, knowing how to better utilise them by leaning on our experience working in places such as Doha,” he said.
“As a business we will continue to develop the battery systems as well, finding new technology that will make it more efficient and improve charging systems.
“We will work on ways to recycle batteries; it is all a part of our decarbonisation journey.”
Having been in this program for a few years, it can now apply its learnings from other parts of the business to the heavy haul sector.
While sector confidence in the technology is still growing, Lind said he’s happy it’s gaining acceptance more widely.
“We still hear some funny things about batteries, which we understand are genuine concerns people have,” he said.
“The battery is of course something you must take care of but everything we are doing is making the technology better and better.
“We will see new technologies in the coming years that will be exciting, and we are keen to be on that journey.”
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