Yverdon les Bains Switzerland - Leclanche SA will provide its proprietary battery technology to Canadian Pacific (CP) for its innovative Hydrogen Locomotive Program.
 
The CP hydrogen powered locomotive pioneering project, first announced in December 2020, will retrofit a line haul diesel freight locomotive with hydrogen fuel cells and Leclanche's European manufactured lithium-ion batteries to power the locomotive's electric traction motors.
 
Leclanche will also provide its proprietary energy management software for optimum integration.
 
The project is designed to evaluate the combined technologies' readiness for the freight rail sector.
 
Once the locomotive is operational, CP will conduct rail service trials and qualification testing.
 
CP operates a 13,000 mile rail network across Canada and the U.S. that serves deep water ports on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
 
The market for freight rail is large and growing across the world.
 
In 2018, year-over-year, Canada's freight rail sector's workload, measured by gross ton-miles, increased by 6.2 percent, and increased 10.1 percent compared with the five-year average.
 
The distance travelled by Canada's freight trains, measured by freight train miles, increased by 5.4 percent to 68.6 million in 2018 versus 2017.
 
Leclanche's eTransport Solutions business serves the needs of the medium and heavy transportation industry through the supply of a broad range of solutions based on 100 percent in-house technologies from lithium cells, battery modules, battery management systems, and battery packs to energy management software.
 
Leclanche has delivered and commissioned more than 430 high capacity marine racks and commercial vehicle battery packs to customers since the start of commercial operations in 2019.
 
These customers include global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the passenger rail, maritime, bus, truck, and specialized vehicles sectors.
 
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