“Locomotive” Steers into a New Track

On February 9, in the assembly workshop of Shandong Huache Energy Technology Co., Ltd., the workshop director was leading workers in the electrification retrofit of a GK-type diesel locomotive from a steel enterprise in Inner Mongolia.

“A single diesel rail locomotive burns 200,000 liters of diesel and emits 637 tons of CO2 annually. Retrofitting one diesel rail locomotive is equivalent to reducing the emissions of over 1,000 passenger cars,” the director finds his work particularly meaningful.

Rail locomotives are used in metallurgy, mining, ports, petrochemicals, and other enterprises with large logistics volumes. Their energy consumption has revealed huge “green business opportunities” to Shandong Huache. Currently, the vast majority of locomotives rely on fuel for power. Data shows that the number of diesel rail locomotives in service among relevant enterprises nationwide is no less than 30,000 units.

One of Shandong Huache’s businesses is producing new energy rail locomotives and retrofitting diesel locomotives to electric. “The locomotive being retrofitted was delivered before the Chinese New Year and can be completed in about 120 days,” introduced Wang Chun, the company’s general manager. In October 2016, China’s first variable-frequency new energy electric locomotive successfully rolled off the production line at Shandong Huache and entered operation at Shougang. To date, Shandong Huache has built and retrofitted over 20 new energy locomotives nationwide with positive market feedback. In the second half of last year, the company’s order value exceeded 100 million yuan.

Pulling thousands of tons of cargo, it consumes less than 100,000 kWh over 10,000 kilometers; each kilowatt-hour used is equivalent to a diesel locomotive consuming 1 liter of diesel. Combined with labor costs, fuel power expenses, and carbon sink costs, one electric rail locomotive can save 1.6157 million yuan per year—whether calculating economic or social benefits, the electrification retrofit of diesel rail locomotives is a practical and excellent strategy for enterprises to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Shandong Huache’s original business was railway diesel locomotive and rolling stock overhaul and O&M services. “In 2012, the State Council issued the ‘Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2012-2020).’ We realized that energy conservation and emission reduction was the trend, and fuel-guzzling, heavily polluting locomotives must undergo green transformation,” after a period of preparation, in 2013, the company first proposed and initiated the “New Energy Battery Electric Rail Locomotive” project.

The company hired experts and scholars to form an R&D task force, investing 15% of total annual output value in R&D, and conducted individual tests on over 1,000 locomotive components. In 2016, the first-generation new energy rail locomotive was launched at Shandong Huache. In December 2018 and October 2020, the second-generation “Coaxial Permanent Magnet Direct Drive New Energy Battery Electric Locomotive” and third generation “New Intelligent Electric Rail Locomotive” were rolled out respectively. “Take batteries for example. A household new energy vehicle has a battery capacity of several dozen kWh and takes 6-8 hours to fully charge. A battery electric rail locomotive has a battery capacity of up to 1,200 kWh, which according to the current design can be fully charged in just two hours, with a driving range of over 160 kilometers,” introduced a Shandong Huache mechanical design and R&D engineer. Recently, the R&D team is debugging the upgraded version of the third-generation locomotive. This locomotive equipped with VR recognition assisted driving and millimeter-wave radar will be closer to “driverless” operation.

To meet market demand, last year Shandong Huache invested 220 million yuan to build nine production workshops and supporting facilities. Currently, Phase I of the project has been completed, and China’s only “New Energy Locomotive Stationary Testing Station” has been put into use. Phase II will start construction soon and will be operational by the end of this year. Upon full completion, the project will annually manufacture and retrofit 100 new energy electric rail locomotives/units, generating approximately 800 million yuan in sales revenue and nearly 90 million yuan in tax revenue.

This year, Shandong Huache will also develop and launch its fourth-generation rail locomotive product—a hydrogen-electric hybrid locomotive.