Skip to main content

Ballard and Siemens sign $9 million agreement on fuel cell engine train

Ballard Power Systems (BPS) has announced it has signed a development agreement with Siemens, with a contemplated value of $9 million (£6.8 million), to develop a zero-emission fuel cell engine to power Siemens’ Mireo light rail train in Germany. Initial deployments of the train are planned for 2021. BPS will develop a 200-kilowatt fuel cell engine for integration into the new train platform which aims to reach speeds of up to 160 km per hour (100 miles per hour). Sabrina Soussan, chief executive officer
November 16, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Ballard Power Systems (BPS) has announced it has signed a development agreement with 189 Siemens, with a contemplated value of $9 million (£6.8 million), to develop a zero-emission fuel cell engine to power Siemens’ Mireo light rail train in Germany. Initial deployments of the train are planned for 2021.
 
BPS will develop a 200-kilowatt fuel cell engine for integration into the new train platform which aims to reach speeds of up to 160 km per hour (100 miles per hour).

Sabrina Soussan, chief executive officer of the Mobility Division at Siemens said, "Our cooperation with Ballard is a decisive step towards replacing diesel-powered rail vehicles with emissions-free vehicles in the long-term interests of sustainable and climate-friendly mobility. We want to be able to offer our customers flexible train solutions for various suburban routes, which vary according to regional conditions and technical possibilities."

Randy MacEwen, BPS president and chief executive officer added, "We are seeing rapid market demand growing for clean energy fuel cell technology in a range of Heavy Duty Motive applications, including trains, trams, transit buses and commercial trucks. This Development Agreement with Siemens, a major industrial conglomerate and leading global train OEM, is a testament to the overall value proposition offered by Ballard's fuel cell technology in a demanding use case and duty cycle. In this application, fuel cells enable electrification with range, without the need for costly catenary wire infrastructure." 

Related Content

  • November 23, 2017
    Mobility pricing offers new tools for managing mobility
    Mobility pricing is the best way of sustaining and enhancing mobility, argues Moving Forward Consulting’s Josef Czako. Mobility pricing (MP) is effectively the culmination of the ‘user pays’ principle and has been referred to in many policy discussions about electronic toll collection, road user charging (RUC), and pricing. MP not only reflects the ‘use more, pay more’ nature of RUC, it also takes account of the external cost of journeys including pollution, noise, the cost of congestion and accidents.
  • July 17, 2012
    Methanol range extender for fuel cell vehicle
    The innovative QBeak electric car is to benefit from a sophisticated methanol fuel cell range extender that will give it a range of at least 800km. Development work is being carried out on the project by a consortium of Danish companies. The plan is to develop a novel, range-extended electric vehicle that uses biomethanol as a fuel source. TheModularEnergyCarrier concept (MECc) project has just been granted funding from the Danish government. The reworked electric car is expected to deliver high market pote
  • July 31, 2012
    Future of US cooperative infrastructure networks
    Peter H. Appel, the new Administrator of the USDOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administration, on his vision of the US's future cooperative infrastructure networks. Peter H. Appel comes to the post of Administrator of the US Department of Transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) from a background in transportation-related work which stretches back over 20 years. Most recently with management consultancy A. T. Kearney, Inc., where he focused on busin
  • October 19, 2017
    £680 million investment for West Midlands Trains
    A £680 million ($897million) order for new trains has been welcomed by West Midlands Rail (WMR), a consortium of 16 local councils set up to manage the regions rail services. The order, made up of 413 carriages, comes from West Midlands Trains (WMT) who will run local services on behalf of WMR and Department of Transport (D0T) from December onwards to help increase capacity and improve journey times. WMT will operate local services until March 2026.