CZ LOKO focuses on hybrid solutions in developing new shunters
CZ LOKO, the Czech locomotive builder, has launched the feasibility study for developing a hydrogen-powered shunter. Due to the planned installation of the batteries, the new vehicle will be hybrid. Besides this type, the manufacturer is working on three other hybrid locomotives that will use various sources of energy for running.
More than two years ago, in June 2019, CZ LOKO unveils its first hybrid locomotive. It is the HybridShunter 400 to power from both diesel engine and traction batteries. Currently, the Czech company is developing four more locomotives with hybrid solutions. “The European Green Deal, which promotes the reduction of carbon footprint, is a major challenge for us. We are developing two types of dual and two types of hybrid locomotives. We continue to monitor this trend and analyse in detail the advantages and disadvantages of these unconventional solutions,” said Jan Kutálek, sales director of CZ LOKO.
Various types of fuel
The four mentioned shunting locomotives are the DualShunter 2000, HybridShunter 1000, E-Shunter 300 and HydrogenShunter 1000. Each of them combines two different sources of energy: the DualShunter 2000 will be equipped with a pantograph and diesel engine; the HybridShunter 1000 and E-Shunter 300 will have battery packs and diesel engine (of different power); the HydrogenShunter 1000 will run by using hydrogen and diesel fuel. It is worth reminding that CZ LOKO had been working on the new locomotive to be powered from compressed natural gas (CNG). However, the manufacturer cancelled the project after consultations with railway undertakings that consider the mass production of the new type of rolling stock as unrealistic.