14000
175NM
72KW
200 - 440
The drive and the regenerative braking for the Evolution Class locomotive is provided by 2 very compact 3 phase AC motors, one fitted into each bogie. Each motor has it’s own inverter, and both inverter and motor are water cooled. The whole system is managed by an extremely robust VCU (Vehicle Control Unit) which is also constantly communicating with the battery management system to dynamically adjust performance or regen when needed to protect the battery for longevity.
The motors have an operating voltage range of 200-440v and they comfortably spin all the way up to 14,000 RPM. They are designed to transition from power to regen for braking imperceptibly smoothly, and are able to fully lock the locomotives wheels if you’re too aggressive on the lever, so in the real world the use of the train braking systems is relegated to immobilising the carriages in the platforms and emergencies!
The motors have an operating voltage range of 200-440v and they comfortably spin all the way up to 14,000 RPM. They are designed to transition from power to regen for braking imperceptibly smoothly, and are able to fully lock the locomotives wheels if you’re too aggressive on the lever, so in the real world the use of the train braking systems is relegated to immobilising the carriages in the platforms and emergencies!
Technical stuff out of the way, the power is where these motors really get interesting! Each motor has a peak output of 96 Horsepower (72kw), giving the locomotive an impressive 188 horsepower, but the torque figures are where it really gets impressive. At the motors the locomotive produces 350NM of torque, but drive to the wheels is geared down nearly 32 to 1 to achieve a sensible line speed resulting in a theoretical torque figure of 14,000NM,….. which gives a tractive effort figure 1/3rd that of a literal full size Deltic! Of course we can’t actually put all that torque down on the rails as the Evolution Class is far too lightweight to grip the track that firmly, but with a real world figure of around 4500NM of usable torque at the wheels the Evolution Class can comfortably pull the heaviest trains up the steepest gradients any miniature railway can provide.
