Intramotev, the technology company building autonomous zero-emissions rail solutions, has announced a partnership with mining company, Carmeuse Americas, to deploy its TugVolt technology at a mining site in Cedarville, Michigan.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better partner to deploy our technology in Michigan than Carmeuse,” Tim Luchini, Intramotev’s CEO, said. “For over 160 years, Carmeuse has been on the frontlines of innovation, and we’re thrilled to partner with them to cut emissions, save fuel costs, and keep their workers safe.”

With support from the Michigan Mobility Funding Program, Intramotev will deploy three TugVolt battery-electric railcars at a Carmeuse Americas mining site in Cedarville to support a new railway that will carry one six-car train of ore per hour. It will be the first real-world operational deployment of a battery-electric freight railcar capable of operating without a locomotive pulling it, the company claims. It will also be one of the largest scale implementations of industrial robots.

The deployment is estimated to eliminate up to 55,000 gallons (208,198 litres) of diesel consumption and 617 tons (560 t) of vehicle-level CO2 emissions.

“We’re excited to partner with Intramotev to deploy their TugVolt technology,” Jeff Bittner, Senior VP of Operations, said. “This partnership represents an incredible opportunity to increase our efficiency, decrease our carbon footprint, and keep our workers safe and focused on what they do best through adoption of emerging digital technologies. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.”

TugVolt is a proprietary kit that can retrofit/upfit existing rail cars to become battery-electric. It can decouple to independently service first- and last-mile legs, providing the type of flexibility that, Luchini says, will allow the system to more readily compete with trucking.