4 ms·
Well, my hybrid electric car gets, on a summer day, about 70 km per 10 kWh charge. So if the locomotive can produce about 24000 kWh in a day, it could power 240
by rebuilder 6y ago
Well, my hybrid electric car gets, on a summer day, about 70 km per 10 kWh charge. So if the locomotive can produce about 24000 kWh in a day, it could power 2400 35 km round-trip commutes.
Now a freight train will run at, I don't know, 120 km/h? So, theoretically, it could run 2 880 km in a day. As we can see, that's a lot less than the combined 168 000 km 2400 hybrid cars could drive.
So if we're comparing a train pulled by a locomotive like this to single-occupant hybrid electric cars, the train would have to transport 60 people to be about equivalent in efficiency. That seems very doable, you could fit that in a single train car. Also the 1000 kW power output is the peak output, I can't imagine a locomotive would be anywhere near it's max power very often.
Did I goof in my calculations? I may well have! But based on these numbers, trains seem pretty efficient.
- reasonabl_human 6y agoFreight train implies cargo transport, while you’re generally correct from my point of view, I think the more apt comparison would be freight train vs. semi Also, looks like your car gets ~230Wh / mile, that’s pretty efficient compared to teslas, what kind of EV do you have? Are teslas just that inefficient or are you including ICE hybrid engine use in that measurement? Model 3 gets ~315 - 350 Wh / mile
- rebuilder 6y agoIt's an Opel Ampera, i.e. a Chevy Volt. That range, fully electric, is the best I've reliably gotten out of it, attainable on summer days (no heating!) driving on slower country roads. Highways and wintertime are a different story - this time of year I get maybe 45 km per charge. And currently it won't even run on battery only since it's so cold the car insists on intermittently running the engine for heat.