Battery transport by rail: sustainable logistics for e-mobility

The heavy weight of traction batteries in particular means that transporting them by road is highly inefficient. A comparison of capacities makes this clear. With a load limit of 64 tonnes, a single Habbiins wagon has the same capacity as two-and-a-half 40-tonne lorries. Battery transport with a block train of 20 of our Habbiins wagons does the work of around 50 lorry journeys. At the same time, this single freight train reduces CO2 emissions during transport to just one eighth of the emissions generated by the 50 diesel lorries on the road – with the same transport capacity. In terms of dimensions, the maximum loading length (22.00 m) and loading width (2.84 m) of a Habbiins wagon also makes it far superior to a lorry.

By replacing 50 lorry journeys with a single journey by train, you can also address the shortage of skilled workers in the lorry transport sector. Instead of 50 lorry drivers, all you need is a train driver to transport your batteries by rail. Of course, this also applies to the journey back to the starting point after the cargo has been delivered: instead of 50 skilled workers, rail transport requires just one. In the road transport scenario, each of the 50 lorry drivers needs appropriate training and equipment for the transport of dangerous goods. It is not only much easier for a single train driver to meet this requirement, but statistics also show that transporting dangerous goods by rail is generally about 40 times less likely to involve accidents than transporting them by lorry. Load securing is easier on the railways, while emergency braking is much more common in road traffic.