Tag Archives: TugVolt

Intramotev achieves ‘world first’ battery-electric rail milestone at Carmeuse’s calcium mine

Intramotev, the technology company building battery-electric railcar retrofits, has started operating its TugVolt technology at Carmeuse America’s calcium mine in Cedarville, Michigan.

This milestone, captured on video, makes it the world’s first independently driven battery-electric railcar in revenue service, according to the company.

With support from the Michigan Mobility Funding Program, Intramotev will deploy a total of three TugVolt battery-electric railcars at the Cedarville site. 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.

“As Intramotev continues to serve customers across the country, we’re excited to share a glimpse of our technology in action,” Tim Luchini, Intramotev’s CEO, “Collaborating with a world-class partner like Carmeuse Americas brings us closer to achieving our mission of decarbonising mining and steel transportation.”

Jeff Bittner, Senior VP of Operations at Carmeuse, said: “We’re excited to partner with Intramotev to deploy their TugVolt technology. 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, the company says, will allow the system to more readily compete with trucking.

The Carmeuse deployment is the latest in a year of major announcements from Intramotev, including a $14 million Series A fundraise, a deployment at Iron Senergy’s Cumberland Mine, and a switching agreement with freight carrier Eagle Drayage.

Intramotev to deploy three TugVolt battery-electric railcars at Carmeuse Americas mine site

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.

Intramotev deploys ‘world first’ self-propelled battery-electric railcar at Cumberland mine

Intramotev, the technology company building autonomous zero-emissions rail solutions, says it has successfully deployed the world’s first self-propelled battery-electric railcar in a traditional freight train.

In a major step forward, Intramotev has deployed its railcar retrofit, known as the ReVolt, at Iron Senergy’s Cumberland mine in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, USA. The car has run for over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) between the Cumberland Mine and its Alicia Harbor facility.

“We’re excited to deliver the fuel savings and environmental benefits of the ReVolt to our customer Iron Senergy,” Tim Luchini, Intramotev’s CEO, said. “Today’s news marks an important milestone in our work to decarbonise mining and freight transportation, and we’re just getting started.”

Iron Senergy CEO and owner, Justin Thompson, said: “We’re thrilled to have partnered with Intramotev to deploy their forward-thinking technology. We’re always searching for ways to double down on our commitment to innovation and sustainability, and this partnership helps accomplish that in a big way.”

Intramotev says it continues to build momentum with customer deployments in the mining sector. Later this year, the company will deploy its locomotive replacement, known as the TugVolt, at a calcium mine in northern Michigan, USA.

TugVolt is a proprietary kit that can retrofit/upfit existing rail cars to become battery-electric, while ReVolt captures waste energy in traditional trains via regenerative braking, and automated safety systems including gates and hatches. TugVolt 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. ReVolt, meanwhile, stays in the consist to capture energy via regenerative braking and reduce the overall diesel consumption of locomotives.

Intramotev to put rail back in mining material movement competition

St Louis-based Intramotev is looking to rekindle the mining and rail relationship that made US operations viable in some of the country’s most remote places by using a modular battery-electric propulsion system and an autonomous-ready operating platform that can provide shipment certainty, safety and sustainability.

Founded by Tim Luchini, Alex Peiffer and Corey Vasel, Intramotev has come to the table in the last four years with a portfolio focused on autonomous, zero-emission rail solutions.

The company has brought together a team from the rail, aerospace and automotive sectors to revolutionise and revamp the rail sector, looking to provide the “speed and flexibility of trucks with all the advantages of rail”, Luchini, also CEO, told IM.

“Through our solutions, we can offer the rail industry 20% to 100% reductions in their emissions footprint, while lowering their all-in costs by 30-80%,” he says.

Such metrics, which could encourage mine site expansions as well as new greenfield operations to start up, will be achieved by deploying one of the two solutions Intramotev has in its portfolio:

  • TugVolt, a proprietary kit that can retrofit/upfit existing rail cars to become battery-electric; and
  • ReVolt, capturing waste energy in traditional trains via regenerative braking, and automated safety systems including gates and hatches.

TugVolt 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. ReVolt, meanwhile, stays in the consist to capture energy via regenerative braking and reduce the overall diesel consumption of locomotives.

Both solutions leverage battery-electric technology – with Luchini saying the rule of thumb would see a 100 kW battery on board a rail car able to transport a 100 t payload for 100 miles (160 km).

“This compares very favourably with the massive batteries companies are having to put into rail locomotives to provide hybrid consists,” he said. “We’re offering something much more scalable to allow operators transporting large volumes of materials via rail an opportunity to electrify their fleet and reduce their costs.”

The first mining company to publicly commit to such a solution is Iron Senergy, which is set to receive three ReVolt rail cars for its 17 mile private rail line that transports coal produced by its Cumberland longwall coal mine, in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, to its Alicia Harbor Facility on the Monongahela River, in western Pennsylvania.

This will be the world’s first deployment of self-propelled battery-electric rail cars in a traditional freight train when it starts up by the end of the year, according to Intramotev, using regenerative braking and battery technology to reduce diesel consumption from locomotives, resulting in lower costs for rail operators and reducing emissions impact from rail operations.

Tim Luchini, co-Founder and CEO of Intramotev

This might be the first, but there are plenty more in the works, according to Luchini.

“We have a pipeline of 168 rail cars today which are at different levels of commitment,” he said, adding that, of this total, there was a roughly even split between enquiries for TugVolt and ReVolt.

“We’re expecting payback periods on projects to be as little as six months, so there is a real economic case to employ these solutions, as well as the ability to reduce your emissions,” he said.

The US represents a massive market for the company to aim for – close to a million freight rail cars sit idle in switching yards, awaiting locomotives to bring them to their destination, according to the company – but Luchini also sees opportunities in Canada and South America where North American rail standards are already present.

“Then there is a region like Australia to consider, which obviously has a rich history of mining with remote operations in need of affordable and low-emission transport infrastructure,” he added.

The ability to add spur and extensions onto existing lines and run smaller units of battery-electric rail cars – like the company thinks can be achieved in the likes of Arizona, Nevada and Minnesota – could provide serious competition to the trucking sector there.

Luchini concluded: “If you are a mine site today, you have an obvious tension when it comes to material movement.

“Conveyors are great material movers but can cause huge issues when they fail; trucks are fast and flexible but come with excess emissions by today’s standards; rail is low cost, fast and environmentally responsible but in its current form is not very flexible.

“We’re looking to change this dynamic, going back to the rail sector’s heritage as a mine operation facilitator.”