page_title: Battery electric multiple unit
section_title: Class 777
hierarchical_section_title: Battery electric multiple unit / By country / United Kingdom / Class 777
caption_attribution_description: English: Class 777 003 on test at Rice Lane Railway Station 16/03/2020
context_page_description: A battery electric multiple unit, battery electric railcar or accumulator railcar is an electrically driven multiple unit or railcar whose energy is derived from rechargeable batteries driving the traction motors.
  Prime advantages of these vehicles is that they do not use fossil fuels such as coal or diesel fuel, emit no exhaust gases and do not require the railway to have expensive infrastructure like electric ground rails or overhead catenary. On the down side is the weight of the batteries, which raises the vehicle weight, and their range before recharging of between 300 and 600 kilometres. Currently, battery electric units have a higher purchase price and running cost than petrol or diesel railcars. One or more charging stations are required along the routes they operate, unless operation is on a mixture of electrified and unelectrified track, with the batteries being charged from the electrified track.
  Battery technology has greatly improved over the past 20 years broadening the scope of use of battery trains, moving away from limited niche applications.
context_section_description: On page 37 of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Long Term Rail Strategy document of October 2017, it states that in 2020 a trial of new class 777 Merseyrail electric 3rd rail/battery trains will be undertaken in view to incorporate two stretches of unelectrified track onto the Merseyrail network. The sections are on the Wirral Line from Ellesmere Port to Helsby interchange station and the Northern Line from Ormskirk to Preston interchange station.
caption: Class 777, Stadler, to conduct battery-electric trials in Liverpool.
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