Voltify wants railroad operators to avoid diesel

Daphna Langer has a bold ambition: carbonizing the railway industry from carbon in less than a decade.

How? Part of a business model of Langer forecasts can make its company Volify up to 10 billion dollars per year.

The railway industry needs to reduce its emissions by 5% annually by 2030 to achieve net zero targets. International Energy Agency. In addition, according to the 2021 survey published in the magazine, US railway companies will save $ 94 billion for 20 years. Nature energy.

It is designed to connect to Voltiy’s sodium ion batteries-mevcut load locomotives on Voltcars-Esasen wheels.

To persuade 80 billion dollars of US railway industry It may seem to be a difficult task to switch from traditional and long -term fossil fuel to renewable energy, but there are a few reasons for Langer’s trust in Volfy’s goal.

After a task that advised the company in the climatic industry, more than one early stages, Langer noticed two things that limit their growth. “Most government rely on subsidies and [the] second [factor] They rely on production and scale that does not exist today, “he said.

In order to overcome these obstacles, Langer organized meetings with hundreds of people in energy and material industries and sought opportunities. When he first met his founding partner Alon Kessel, he said it was a “ding ding” moment.

KESSEL knew the renewable energy market well, DoralIt is a company that has dozens of solar farm in the USA and Europe. The six largest load railway companies in the USA – Unity Pacific And CSX – They spent more than 11 billion dollars a year for diesel, a figure confirmed by CNBC. Union Pacific, for example, spent about $ 2.5 billion in 2024, Annual report.

Langer and Kessel saw an opportunity. What if they can convince the locomotives to turn their locomotives from diesel to battery power – known as class 1 railways – known as class 1?

“It is not so difficult to transform six companies. And it is great to have the ability to have such an impact with only six companies.” He said. There are about 140,000 miles of load railway track in the US, the majority of locomotives were supported by diesel because there were very few fire electrification.

Langer and Kessel founded Volify in 2023 and began to meet railway companies. But they found the first resistance. “There is a lot of skepticism, because this is a very traditional industry, working time and reliability is very important.” He said. He continued: “We understand what can comply with the programs in a way that complies with their operations without damaging their productivity.”

The biggest concern of the companies was that the time to charge the batteries and would always be a power supply to do so. “Railway companies that are very blind in this regard, [said] Listen, we really don’t care about the energy source. We must always make sure it is ready. There is always energy, ” Langer said.

Therefore, Voltiti has spent working on an algorithm that can predict the energy demands of trains on each route, and Langer and the company build the first solar energy microgrid to be finished by the end of the year. “Our calculations show that these microgrids can give power to all trains in North America,” our CNBC said to CNBC. He said. Volify estimates that doing this will require 1,400 micro network.

Langer, Langer, Langer, who is involved in “very active” talks with the largest railway companies in North America, added that he is ready to carry out a demonstration project with a smaller railway this year. Volify also set up a pilot with a class 1 railway company in the beginning of 2026, and Langer said it was “expected” to become a commercial deployment a few months later.

Volify is not the first company to demonstrate the idea of strengthening freight trains with batteries. Freed Ray Company in 2019 Wabtec After ordering by the Miner BHP group, the first trains developed a battery-electric locomotive called FLXDRIVE, which was set to work in Australia. The company also tested the battery-electric locomotive with GE and said that it plans to test and operate FLXDRAVE trains in North and South American markets in an e-mail.

According to Wabtec’s Foreign and Engineering Communication Director Tim Bader, technology can reduce diesel consumption and emissions by 30%. “This benefit is critical, because fuel is one of the main operating costs for a railway,” he said.

However, as technology emerges, there are challenges such as a “challenging” business case, given the charging time and battery capacity and the necessary infrastructure investments. “Like any developing technology, these challenges will decrease as they continue to investigate and develop industrial battery power solutions.” He said.

In addition, there is “important” market potential for battery -supported passenger trains, Siemens Mobility North America, CNBC with an e -mail. “As battery -powered trains, especially operators seek alternatives for non -electric routes, represents a new and exciting platform for the railway market.” He said.

Siemens Mobility sold more than 400 diesel electric charging locomotives in North America and launched the battery-electric train, B+AC in June, and sold 13 to New York’s metropolitan transport authority and metro-northern railway.

The new locomotive attracts electricity from overhead Catener wires and the battery power when necessary. Online version. Although the range of locomotives is about 100 miles, Bauer said it is expected to grow as battery technology progresses.

In February, Siemens Mobility received an order from the Swiss load operator WRS WIDMER railway services for two of the vectron lithium ion battery locomotives, which can be used for shunt without the need for overhead electrical lines. Asked about the potential of battery -powered freight trains, Bauer said, “The battery -powered load will depend on route features and charging infrastructure, but there is potential.”

– Michael Wayland from CNBC contributed to this report.