A method controls the current output of a battery for driving a rail vehicle. A battery actual current Ibat,ist passes via a converter to an asynchronous motor, being a drive for the vehicle. The battery actual current Ibat,ist is set by control circuits as a function of a feedforward control torque Mff and a specified torque Mtf. The feedforward control torque Mff is calculated using a transfer function Hsys(z), which maps the torque setpoint value Msoll onto the battery actual current Ibat,ist as follows: Ibat(z) Hsys(z) Msoll(z). Accordingly, a zero-point z=znmp, which lies outside the unit circle, is determined by the transfer function Hsys(z). The feedforward control torque Mff is calculated as follows: Mff(z) Ibat,neu(z)/(Hsys(z) z) where: Ibat,neu(z)=Ibat,ideal(z) Ibat,ideal(z=znmp) where: Ibat,neu[n]=Ibat,ideal[n] for all n>0, so that pole point/zero point cancellation is reached by z=znmp at the battery ideal current.