Battery electric multiple unit

Currently, battery electric units have a higher purchase price and running costs than petrol or diesel railcars.

Vivarail in the United Kingdom claim their trains have a range of 100 miles (160 km) on only battery power, with a 10-minute charging time.

Previously, incorporating lightly used unelectrified lines into an electrified network meant extending expensive electrical infrastructure, making many extensions unviable.

[2] Britain successfully trialled fare paying passenger hybrid overhead wire/lithium battery trains in January and February 2015.

In Germany between 1955 and 1995 Deutsche Bahn railways successfully operated 232 DB Class ETA 150 railcars utilising lead-acid batteries.

The CAF Urbos 3 tramways was ordered for the Seville MetroCentro with the Acumulador de Carga Rápida system which uses short overhead wires at each stop for charging.

[7][9][10] A Combino tramway using four car tramsets equipped with the Sitras HES system has been in regular service from Almada to Seixal, Portugal, since November 2008.

[20] In January 2021, Bombardier signed a new contract to retrofit and introduce a pre-series of five AGC battery-operated trains by 2023, in collaboration with SNCF and five French regions including Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Hauts-de-France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

This project offers a proof of concept and a way forward to eliminating diesel trains by 2035, a target set by the French government and SNCF.

In July 2019, Schleswig-Holstein rail authority NAH.SH awarded Stadler a €600m order for 55 battery-powered Flirt Akku multiple unit trains along with maintenance for 30 years.

The trains, which offer 150 km (93 mi) of battery range, will start entering service in 2022 replacing DMUs on non-electrified routes.

[23][24] The New Athos Cave Railway in Abkhazia in the country of Georgia has three narrow-gauge power-concentrated battery electric multiple units built by the Railroad Machinery Plants of Riga in Latvia.

[33] In Japan, JR East tested a "NE Train Smart Denchi-kun" battery electric railcar from 2009.

[34] The batteries can be charged via the pantograph while running on tracks with an overhead wires or at a specially built recharging facility at a station.

[37] The trains recharge their batteries at Karasuyama Station terminus via their pantographs, using a rigid conductor bar to facilitate rapid charging at 1,500V using power supplied by the local electric grid.

A new EV-E801 series two-car BEMU train, also built by Hitachi, was introduced on the 26.6 km (16.5 mi) long non-electrified Oga Line in Akita Prefecture in March 2017.

It shares similar characteristics with the BEC819 trains as it uses a 360 kWh battery and is recharged from a 20 kV 50 Hz AC overhead supply.

In 2022, the Road Transport Administration (ATD), which organizes passenger carrier services in Latvia, announced a procurement for the construction and delivery of 9 BEMU sets, with an option for 7 more, until the end of 2026.

[47][48] In January 2015 a one-month trial of a single Class 379 Electrostar fitted with lithium batteries began passenger operations on the Mayflower Line in Essex.

[49] Network Rail refer to this prototype model and its possible future descendants as Independently Powered Electric Multiple Units (IPEMU).

[50] A month after the trial in March 2015, the introduction of battery-powered trains was proposed by Network Rail for consideration for the fifteen station 27 miles (43 km) long diesel operated Wrexham to Bidston, Borderlands Line.

The line is diesel train operated unable to progress into the electric 3rd rail underground Birkenhead and Liverpool Merseyrail tunnels & stations.

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority announced in July 2021 that trials of a BEMU (IPEMU, independent power electric multiple unit) version their new Class 777 on the Merseyrail network had shown that they were capable of travelling up to 20 miles (32 km) without a charge.

[52] The battery-electric version of the Class 777 would allow the possibility of Merseyrail services from Liverpool to Skelmersdale, Wrexham, Warrington and Runcorn, without full line electrification.

Vivarail developed a fast charger giving a 100 mi (160 km) range with a 10 minutes recharging time.

[56] The Class 230 was introduced on the Borderlands line for Transport for Wales between Wrexham Central and Bidston interconnecting with Merseyrail into Liverpool.

105 of the Alaska Railroad was an Edison-Beach car,[58] and examples operated on the Central Vermont Railway running between Millers Falls, Northfield and West Townshend.

Each wheel was mounted on ball bearings on a dead axle and was driven by an individual traction motor through gearing.

[60][61] In August 2023, Caltrain exercised an option order with Stadler, its rolling stock manufacturer, which included a single four-car BEMU trainset.

[62] In February 2024, Metra announced an order of 16 Stadler FLIRT Akku trainset for use on the Beverly Branch of the Rock Island District.