New energy locomotives lead the green transformation of the transportation sector

Spacious driver's cab, intelligent driver's console, bright lookout windows… Recently, seven "green" series hybrid electric locomotives were officially unveiled in Beijing.

These locomotives were first released globally by CRRC Corporation Limited (hereinafter referred to as "CRRC"). Compared with traditional fuel locomotives, they have excellent environmental performance and effectively solve the problems of high fuel consumption, high emissions, high noise, and poor comfort of existing old internal combustion locomotives.

In December 2023, the National Railway Administration issued the "Management Measures for the Elimination and Renewal of Old Railway Internal Combustion Locomotives (Draft for Comments)", proposing that from 2035 onwards, old railway internal combustion locomotives should be completely withdrawn from the railway transportation market. The successfully developed series of new energy locomotives are of great significance for further promoting the updating and iteration of old equipment in the transportation field and promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of high energy consumption and high emission locomotives.

Emission reduction and carbon reduction are very "powerful"

With the increasingly prominent global environmental problems, the concept of green development has gradually become one of the mainstream trends in today's social development. The existing old internal combustion locomotives are heavily polluting, energy-intensive, and noisy, and can no longer meet the needs of green and low-carbon development of railways. Therefore, in recent years, the locomotive industry has been searching for clean solutions and has successively produced various new energy locomotives such as hydrogen fuel cell locomotives and hybrid locomotives.

The series of new energy locomotives released by CRRC this time came into being against this backdrop.

These locomotives adopt three power configurations: internal combustion engine + power battery, power battery, and hydrogen fuel cell, covering a variety of power ranges from 1000 kilowatts to 2000 kilowatts, which can fully meet the needs of various railway transportation scenarios of domestic and foreign enterprises in the steel and metallurgy, mining, power, coal, and port industries.

Compared with traditional internal combustion locomotives, these series of new energy locomotives have unique advantages in carbon reduction. "Internal combustion engine + power battery locomotives have three power modes: power battery, diesel engine, and diesel-electric hybrid. In the operating environment of industrial and mining enterprises where frequent start-stop is required, these three modes can be intelligently switched to reduce emissions caused by incomplete combustion of fuel." Zhao Gang, deputy general manager and chief engineer of CRRC Dalian Company, said that power battery and hydrogen fuel cell locomotives can achieve zero emissions of pollutants.

From specific indicators, compared with traditional internal combustion locomotives, internal combustion engine + power battery locomotives can reduce nitrogen oxides by 45%, hydrocarbons by 73%, and carbon monoxide by 83%. Based on a 45% reduction in pollutant emissions, one locomotive can reduce the emission of 4 tons of harmful substances per year, reduce carbon emissions by 374 tons, which is equivalent to planting 34,000 trees.

At the same time, due to the different power configurations, the series of new energy locomotives can also reduce the working time of the diesel engine by switching the power source to achieve noise reduction. Zhao Gang introduced that under the power battery traction condition, the locomotive noise time can be reduced by more than 80%. The indoor noise in the driver's cab can be reduced to below 70 decibels, and the outdoor radiated noise is as low as 58 decibels, which is equivalent to the decibel level of music in a coffee shop.

Intelligent operation and use

Currently, China's old internal combustion locomotives have a generally low level of intelligence due to their early development years. Against this backdrop, the series of new energy locomotives have undergone a number of digital transformations to improve the level of locomotive intelligence.

"The series of new energy locomotives are equipped with high-definition video equipment and lidar, which can collect environmental visual data at 360 degrees and monitor the operation scene status in real time. Functions such as automatic perception, intelligent decision-making, and intelligent operation comprehensively guarantee the safe and stable operation of the locomotive." Li Xining, deputy general manager and chief engineer of CRRC Ziyang Company, said.

The human-computer interaction system has also greatly improved the ease of operation of the locomotive. Through the human-computer interaction interface, the driver can observe the running status of the train in real time. With simple voice commands, the driver can easily control equipment such as air conditioning, sunshades, and wipers, making the driving process more efficient and comfortable.

In terms of fault monitoring of series new energy locomotives, the team has also developed a fault prediction and health management (PHM) technology system. "The system can manage new energy locomotives throughout their entire life cycle." Li Xining said. For faults that have already occurred, the system can promptly feedback the fault point and provide guidance for repair work. At the same time, the system can also predict the locomotive condition based on the collected data, judge the change trend, and provide maintenance suggestions.

In addition, to maximize the safety of drivers and passengers, the R&D team has set up digital safety protection measures for the power battery and hydrogen fuel system. "The monitoring data of the locomotive power source will be transmitted to the onboard microcomputer control system in real time. Once the power source data shows an abnormal situation, the system will issue a warning and take corresponding measures." Li Xining said.

Energy saving and consumption reduction are very cost-effective

In addition to carbon reduction, economic efficiency is the most concern for users. Old internal combustion locomotives often experience start-stop and idling during operation. "By adopting the optimal control technology for hybrid power, the internal combustion engine + power battery locomotive can ensure that the internal combustion engine always operates at the optimal economic speed." Zhong Huaiching, deputy general manager and chief engineer of CRRC Qishuyan Company, said.

For example, with the same volume of fuel, when pulling 3000 tons of goods on a straight track, the cruising range of the internal combustion engine + power battery locomotive exceeds 1100 kilometers, which is 1.7 times that of ordinary internal combustion locomotives, and the fuel saving rate exceeds 45%.

In addition, the series of new energy locomotives also use new technologies such as high-efficiency traction converter system, permanent magnet motor, hybrid power capability management, and braking energy recovery to improve transmission efficiency and reduce energy consumption, effectively solving the energy waste caused by idling of traditional locomotives and improving energy use efficiency.

Zhong Huaiching told reporters that when these new energy locomotives are equipped with permanent magnet traction motors, the motor efficiency can reach 97%, which is 5% higher than that of asynchronous motors. Under general operating conditions, a single locomotive can save 18,000 kWh of electricity per year.

In terms of daily operating costs, the series of new energy locomotives are also more affordable. Taking old internal combustion locomotives in the steel and metallurgy industries as an example, their annual diesel consumption is about 155 tons, and the fuel cost is about 1.4 million yuan. If the same amount of work is completed, the power battery locomotive consumes about 530,000 kWh of electricity. Using an industrial electricity price of 1 yuan per kWh as a benchmark, the corresponding cost is more than 530,000 yuan. "This will save the enterprise more than 870,000 yuan per year and about 2,300 yuan per day." Zhong Huaiching said.

"Furthermore, simplified design can also reduce the maintenance cost of these locomotives." Zhong Huaiching introduced, "Simplification" can effectively reduce the number of spare parts. For example, if locomotives all use the same type of air conditioner, then only one type of spare part is needed. This design will increase the simplification rate of key components to over 80%, enabling interchangeability of parts between various models, facilitating on-site repair by users, and effectively reducing locomotive maintenance costs.

Currently, China has approximately 9700 aging internal combustion locomotives. The updating and upgrading of these aging locomotives, and their transition to intelligent systems, has become an urgent matter. Zhong Huaiching said that the serialized new energy locomotives will bring about a demand for large-scale and diversified new energy products, driving the vigorous development of related industries such as batteries, electrical equipment, and motors.

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