cocteautwinslyrics asked:
what's the problem with battery locos? Italy's getting battery trains to save the cost and inconvenience of electrifying thousands of km of track while at the same time eliminating DMUs and decarbonising. the lithium is only a small problem in my eyes surely
amtrak-official answered:
Well Battery Trains are far heavier and each train is far more expensive than a train that runs with overhead wire, they also require time to charge, and oh yeah use lithium ion batteries which have a tendency to explode and cause fires which can’t be put out in anyway but burying the thing. They are also unable to do truly long distance routes because even the best only have a 100 mile limit before needing to charge. Replacing our fleet with battery electric locomotives would be just as expensive as electrifying a long distance route like the Wolverine with far less environmental benefits.
Okay, I'm just going to address a few things in here, because I take issue with them either not being mentioned or addressed in full.
On the battery fire thing, I will note that the catastrophic failures we see is less understood than some may think, but are basically a similar rate to regular car fires outside of charging/fueling. The difference is the car fires of electric cars is far more dangerous. This doesn't mean we should give them a pass.
On the range, the likely path battery electric would take is as a tool to make locomotive sets hybrids, using dynamic breaking to recharge and having fire prime movers on the train, as this is how electric cars started to gain a market foothold. See the Toyota Prius, IE that car that people joke about being slow.
On the cost of replacing the fleet, you know damn well class Is aren't replacing their fleets. They should be electrifying and replacing their fleets, but class Is LOVE rebuilding. They love it so much they have driven their original suppliers to selling off theirs locomotive divisions. Why do they love rebuilding so much? Because rebuilt locomotives are cheaper and don't have to meet higher emission standards.
But most importantly, if you read nothing else read this: the railroads hate to invest in infirstructure. It costs money, and that upsets the shareholders
I know this all, but we aren’t talking about the new amtrak electric battery locomotives not the class 1 railroads who will use diesel till the end of time unless it gets banned by the government
