Cost-effectiveness is no longer an argument against sustainability
Even highly developed networks like Germany’s can only justify electrifying about 50 percent of their lines. But the Mireo Plus offers many alternatives to costly electrification: It simply takes its own motive power along with it, in the form of battery storage systems, innovative fuel cells, and a combination of the two. And because it was designed to be especially energy-efficient, it opens up new opportunities to make rail transport even more sustainable.
The Mireo Plus is designed from the ground up to combine flexibility with range and efficiency. Thanks to its flexible design and its modular, scalable traction system, it covers the entire range of regional and local tasks. And thanks to its rigorously light-weight design, energy-efficient components, and smart on-board grid management, it consumes up to 25 percent less energy than trains with a comparable passenger capacity. Location recognition enables predictive driving, which makes the train capable of identifying demands on performance like greater acceleration, or the energy contribution expected from braking. This set-up also includes auxiliary systems like air-conditioning control to optimize the amount of energy consumed by all on-board systems.
The future of public transport is electric – with the Mireo Plus even without an overhead line.Christian Engelmann, Sales Manager SPNV vehicles Germany
Facts that speak for themselves
electrified lines
sustainability
The Mireo Plus B – ideal for shorter routes
In battery-electric form, the Mireo Plus B uses underfloor or roof-mounted batteries to save electric traction energy from the contact wire. If this is not available, the system uses energy stored in the battery to give the Mireo Plus B a range of more than 80 km as a two-car train or more than 120 km as a three-car train. The specially developed high-performance battery system includes innovative additional systems like battery cooling and silicon carbide converters. This was bench-tested at RWTH Aachen, with test operation on a real route to validate the system.
The Mireo Plus H – the middle-distance champion
Environmentally friendly hydrogen provides the energy source for the Mireo Plus H. Its low-temperature fuel cells were specially developed for rail applications. As a result, they offer twice the power density and up to four times the service life compared to fuel cell systems designed for the automotive industry or buses. At the same time, a high-performance battery serves as a kind of dynamic power bank to compensate for high dynamic loads (e.g. when starting off), and also to recover braking energy. Thanks to its energy-saving system architecture, a Mireo Plus H needs up to 10 percent less energy than a conventional electric trainset. And with ranges of up to 600 km for the two-car units and up to 1,000 km for the three-car units, the system is able to cover the longest regional lines in Europe.
