3 ms·

Why assume 4 hours with a recharge? I'm thinking closer to max 15 mins without a recharge. This would allow skipping electrification in some tunnels; in rail y

Why assume 4 hours with a recharge? I'm thinking closer to max 15 mins without a recharge. This would allow skipping electrification in some tunnels; in rail yards; on track segments shared with non-electrified trains; and anywhere that it's too hard to run electric lines.

stickfigure 8y ago
Sure... but now you're only saving a small percentage of the total electrification cost, and paying for increased cost, complexity, and maintenance of locomotives. It's not an obvious win.
Gibbon1 8y ago
Far as I can tell he's also off by a factor of 4. Tesla 85hw battery pack 1200 lbs. 3000 kw X 4 hours = 1200 kwh. 1200kwh/85kw*1200 = 170,000 lbs. A GE/NS Dash 8 weighs in at about 390,000lbs
- stickfigure 8y ago
  210kwh for 3575 lbs comes from the tesla powepack specs: https://www.tesla.com/powerpack https://www.tesla.com/powerpack Furthermore, it makes zero sense to compare "3000kw x 4 hours" since diesel electric locomotives can run for N>>>4 hours. Furthermore, you're comparing the weight of batteries alone compared to the weight of a whole locomotive.
  - Gibbon1 8y ago
    > Furthermore, it makes zero sense to compare "3000kw x 4 hours" since diesel electric locomotives can run for N>>>4 hours. This is simply you reframing the conversation from using batteries to allow hybrid electric trains to use short sections of non-electrified tracks to hybrid electric trains won't work because they don't have the range of a diesel locomotive. I'm going to put this down as you're unwilling to argue fairly and thus lost this argument.
    - stickfigure 8y ago
      You're not comparing hybrid against diesel-electric, you're comparing hybrid against fully electric. The cost of putting batteries in your rolling stock might or might not be higher than electrifying the last 5%. Either way, it's small compared to the cost of electrifying the 95%. Note that the eastern seaboard (with its bridges and tunnels and topography) is getting electrified; the long and flat midwest is not.

stickfigure 8y ago

Sure... but now you're only saving a small percentage of the total electrification cost, and paying for increased cost, complexity, and maintenance of locomotives. It's not an obvious win.

Gibbon1 8y ago

Far as I can tell he's also off by a factor of 4. Tesla 85hw battery pack 1200 lbs. 3000 kw X 4 hours = 1200 kwh. 1200kwh/85kw*1200 = 170,000 lbs. A GE/NS Dash 8 weighs in at about 390,000lbs

stickfigure 8y ago
210kwh for 3575 lbs comes from the tesla powepack specs: https://www.tesla.com/powerpack https://www.tesla.com/powerpack Furthermore, it makes zero sense to compare "3000kw x 4 hours" since diesel electric locomotives can run for N>>>4 hours. Furthermore, you're comparing the weight of batteries alone compared to the weight of a whole locomotive.
- Gibbon1 8y ago
  > Furthermore, it makes zero sense to compare "3000kw x 4 hours" since diesel electric locomotives can run for N>>>4 hours. This is simply you reframing the conversation from using batteries to allow hybrid electric trains to use short sections of non-electrified tracks to hybrid electric trains won't work because they don't have the range of a diesel locomotive. I'm going to put this down as you're unwilling to argue fairly and thus lost this argument.
  - stickfigure 8y ago
    You're not comparing hybrid against diesel-electric, you're comparing hybrid against fully electric. The cost of putting batteries in your rolling stock might or might not be higher than electrifying the last 5%. Either way, it's small compared to the cost of electrifying the 95%. Note that the eastern seaboard (with its bridges and tunnels and topography) is getting electrified; the long and flat midwest is not.