Fortescue launches its first electric locomotives – with batteries the size of more than 200 Tesla EVs

Fortescue has officially unveiled the first of its first two battery locomotives – to the sounds of loud Australian rock music – that will emerge as a key part of the company’s ambitious plans to eliminate the use of fossil fuels at its mining operations in the Pilbara by 2030.

The two locomotives are the first of 70 planned to replace the current fleet of diesel locomotives that carry up to 40,000 tonnes of iron ore from the Pilbara mines to Port Hedland.

The locomotives are not, however, the so-called Infinity trains that would rely entirely on regenerative braking to recharge the batteries as they carried the load downhill so they could return empty to the mine site.

That concept was scrapped last year when the physics didn’t match the company’s bold ambition. The 5.6 megawatt (MW), 14.5 megawatt hour (MWh) batteries – about the equivalent of 207 Tesla EVs – do generate regenerative power on the trip down, but will need to be topped up at port while unloading.

And the company says it’s still assessing what technology can handle the weights and distances required of an iron ore hauler to complete the task of cutting emissions from the rail track, which it says is the hardest part of its goal to reach “real zero” within four years.

What the locomotives can do was on show on Thursday this week, when Fortescue unveiled the new machines at its Thomas railway yard in Port Hedland in front of invited media. 

One was posed, camera ready, on the forecourt of the rail yard. The other slowly rolled into view from the direction of the port — hailed by loud Australia rock music as it proved it can do what Fortescue says it can: successfully pull the more than 200 wagons (then empty) needed to move iron ore.

Crawling up the ladder at the front leads to a cockpit upholstered in beige and including a touch screen to monitor the battery, and driving controls that mimic those in the diesel trains.

At the back of the cockpit is a dark tunnel-like walkway through the 210 battery packs to the back entrance of the locomotive. 

Standing in front of the new machine, Fortescue CEO Dino Otranto said the batteries will recharge as the wagons are being unloaded at the port. Given they will recover between 40-60 per cent of their charge from regenerative braking on the way down from the Pilbara highlands, that will only take about 2.5 hours. 

“These two locomotives are the first two. We’re going to test them now, and then we’ll see how well they perform, the economics of them, and then we’ll pull the trigger to add them all into our fleet,” Otranto said on Thursday.

“To replace a fleet that consists of about 70 locomotives is no mean feat. It is a large undertaking. These take probably a couple years to manufacture it. So once we put an order, it will take a couple of years to transition the entire fleet.”

With four years left to meet Fortescue’s Real Zero by 2030 target, that doesn’t leave much room for error.

Founder Andrew Forrest’s vision for the company he chairs is to build multiple gigawatts of large scale wind and solar, and up to 5 gigawatt hours of battery storage, to make his giant iron ore mines in the Pilbara fossil fuel free by 2030.

The company will begin to introduce electric versions of all of its vehicles and equipment this year, but freely admits the trains are the hardest part.

Currently, Fortescue’s 70 diesel locomotives use about 80 million litres of diesel a year.

The two battery additions will save about 1 million litres a year, the company says. 

Infinity blues

Fortescue has already had one failed attempt at electric trains.

The Infinity train concept was focused on a smaller 8 MWh locomotive being designed by Downer, but scrapped in September last year.

It was supposed to use its charge on the way uphill to Fortescue’s mines in the Pilbara interior, and recharge completely by using regenerative braking on the return downhill to Port Hedland. 

The problem, Fortescue found, was physics. 

Natural resistance from the wheels against the track, and even air resistance from the square wagons meant the smaller battery couldn’t last the distance. 

And while the two newest battery locomotives will hit the main trunk line — positioned as a duo at the front of a train — and theoretically other locomotives could be stacked to provide more power, ideally the company will find a battery technology that will pack more energy density into a smaller space. 

That could be solid state, sodium ion, or even a different lithium ion chemistry, all ideas currently under investigation. 

Renew Economy travelled to the Pilbara as a guest of Fortescue.

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