Battery-electric trains can bring cost savings and resilience to the U.S.

[Gumboots]

Ineresting article today on phys.org - Battery-electric trains can bring cost savings and resilience to the U.S.

The actual study is open access, and is available here: Economic, environmental and grid-resilience benefits of converting diesel trains to battery-electric

Abstract

Nearly all US locomotives are propelled by diesel-electric drives, which emit 35 million tonnes of CO2 and produce air pollution causing about 1,000 premature deaths annually, accounting for approximately US$6.5 billion in annual health damage costs. Improved battery technology plus access to cheap renewable electricity open the possibility of battery-electric rail. Here we show that a 241-km range can be achieved using a single standard boxcar equipped with a 14-MWh battery and inverter, while consuming half the energy consumed by diesel trains. At near-future battery prices, battery-electric trains can achieve parity with diesel-electric trains if environmental costs are included or if rail companies can access wholesale electricity prices and achieve 40% use of fast-charging infrastructure. Accounting for reduced criteria air pollutants and CO2 emissions, switching to battery-electric propulsion would save the US freight rail sector US$94 billion over 20 years.

The short version is that battery prices (presumably lithium ion) are now low enough that for low to moderate range usage it would be cheaper to run existing diesel-electric locomotives from a battery car than it would be to keep running them on diesel. Obviously it would also be a lot cleaner.

[sbaros]

Have there been any experimentations conducted ? Or do we have a chance to see one running in RR Tycoon before it hits the real-world rails ?

[Gumboots]

No live experiments yet. This was an economic analysis to check the viability of the idea. It seems like a workable plan, and I can see it being useful for Australia too. We have problems with fuel security, and we also have massive solar and wind resources. Running electric trains off battery cars could work very well here. Even in the middle of the desert it would be easy to recharge them.

As for getting one running in RT3, that would be easy. It's really just a matter of setting a suitable boxcar (or whatever) as a tender on an existing diesel, and setting the engine type to whatever you like. Not electric, obviously, because a unit like this would not require electric track with catenary. You can use a custom engine type in the .lco (hex value 03) but it will display as blank in the user interface. See: viewtopic.php?p=46177#p46177

[sbaros]

Now that you mention it, I see a further advantage in avoiding loco changes when entering unelectrified territory. The batteries could be charged while running under catenary and used elsewhere.
Furthermore, it eliminates the requirement for numerous non-electric emergency locomotives to rescue electric trains during power blackouts and the huge associated delays and traffic complications. I get to like the idea more and more.

[sbaros]

...contrary to these guys here, which the commentator quite deservingly is trying to reason.
I can only hope they won't get any mad technical university professors spending taxpayer resources on these "gadgets".
Nevertheless, for RR Tycoon purposes it seems to be an amusing piece of cake, in the spirit of the concepts of self-propelled stock discussed here.

[Gumboots]

Not the most efficient way of dealing with the problem. I think they will have a hard time finding funding.