On 3 June, a brand new blue refurbished hybrid locomotive was loaded onto a truck and sent from the delivery line of CRRC Ziyang to the transportation department of Ma Steel in Anhui Province.
This marks the official delivery of China’s first commercial refurbished hybrid locomotive with independent intellectual property rights owned by CRRC Ziyang.
This is the first commercial success case, in which CRRC Ziyang helps to achieve the goals of China’s Peaking Carbon Emissions and Carbon Neutrality. The company is taking the lead in accomplishing the refurbishment and reconstruction of old locomotives with reduced cost input and mature hybrid technology to meet the requirements of energy conservation and environmental protection.
The locomotive was refurbished from an old GK1 locomotive produced in 1992. Before the refurbishment, the locomotive was to be scrapped, with seriously aged parts, lost operation functions, and excessive emissions.
After the refurbishment, the locomotive is equipped with a lithium iron phosphate battery system and a diesel gen-set as the power source, and the traction force is basically the same as the original GK1 series locomotive, so it can replace the original locomotive operation.
Meanwhile, the locomotive battery can be directly connected to a 380V industrial power supply for charging, and the fuel saving exceeds 90%. Due to the use of hybrid technology, the lithium battery is the main component in locomotive operation, so the comprehensive emission index of the entire locomotive is better than Tier 3, and the locomotive noise is significantly reduced.
As a leading enterprise in the development of hybrid locomotives in China, CRRC Ziyang developed the first 1,000kW hybrid locomotive in the country, which won the ‘Energy Saving and Emission Reduction Technology Invention Award’, and launched the world’s most powerful hybrid locomotive HXN6 and obtained the type and manufacture licences issued by the National Railway Administration.
While improving the hybrid locomotive technology, CRRC Ziyang takes concrete actions to fulfil the requirements of ‘speeding up the obsolescence of old railway locomotives and encouraging the development of energy-saving and environmental protection transportations’ proposed by the state council and China Railway. The company also actively explores the use of hybrid technology to refurbish old locomotives. Old locomotives can be refurbished and reconstructed to realise hybrid traction by making full use of the original locomotive equipment and decreased refurbishment cost input to benefit from environmental protection, energy saving, noise reduction and operation cost reduction.
In June 2020, CRRC Ziyang took the lead in realising the refurbishment of the old Dongfanghong 5 shunting locomotive to the hybrid locomotive. After more than one year of operation, the advanced, reliable, energy-efficient and environmental performance of the locomotive has been well verified.
It is reported that CRRC Ziyang has built the hybrid technology upgrade and refurbishment platform of traditional diesel-hydraulic locomotives such as Dongfanghong 5 and GK series, which can satisfy the refurbishment for 25% of the domestic old railway locomotives. At the same time, it can also provide services for overseas users to upgrade and refurbish the hybrid technology.
