4 ms·

Can we use big batteries to power our trains?

12 points by samizdis 5y ago

Ambolia 5y ago
What's the advantage of this with respect to overhead catenary trains? I assume cheaper installation, but much more expensive energy as it has to be stored in the battery and extracted back.
- yuppie_scum 5y ago
  Batteries will certainbe cheaper than thousands of miles of catenary and substations to power it.
  - tuatoru 5y ago
    Catenary may still be better in trainyards though. Lots of shunting, relatively short distances. I remember seeing a YouTube about overhead wires for electric trucks on a busy German road. IIRC It was about 20 miles between cities.
  - simonblack 5y ago
    One lot of thousands of miles of catenary and substations versus hundreds of thousands of heavy batteries, and a permanent loss of significant load-carrying capacity per train. The catenary has it.
    - satiric 5y ago
      Locomotives actually need to be a certain weight: you see this with "slug" locomotives, which have no diesel engine and need concrete or steel plates to make up the difference in weight. This is because the maximum torque that can be applied before you reach wheel spin is partly a function of the weight applied to the driving wheels. So in order to pull the weight that a diesel electric locomotive can, you'll probably need to add weight to the electric locomotive, and you may as well add it with batteries.
  - totalZero 5y ago
    You only need enough battery to get between lengths of track that can give you a recharge.
- killingtime74 5y ago
  Some trains using overhead now switch to diesel when the cables run out
simonblack 5y ago
That would be silly. Why would you lug all that weight around? That's just a waste of load-carrying capacity that could be used to transport more money-producing cargo.
YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y ago
I am curious if you could use flywheels instead of batteries like the gyrobus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrobus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrobus) used in the 1950s in switzerland. The biggest problem they had was the change in direction in sharp corners that shouldn't be the case for trains. Especially with the advancement in flywheel technology like suspending them in a vacuum.

12 points by samizdis 5y ago

What's the advantage of this with respect to overhead catenary trains? I assume cheaper installation, but much more expensive energy as it has to be stored in the battery and extracted back.

yuppie_scum 5y ago
Batteries will certainbe cheaper than thousands of miles of catenary and substations to power it.
- tuatoru 5y ago
  Catenary may still be better in trainyards though. Lots of shunting, relatively short distances. I remember seeing a YouTube about overhead wires for electric trucks on a busy German road. IIRC It was about 20 miles between cities.
- simonblack 5y ago
  One lot of thousands of miles of catenary and substations versus hundreds of thousands of heavy batteries, and a permanent loss of significant load-carrying capacity per train. The catenary has it.
  - satiric 5y ago
    Locomotives actually need to be a certain weight: you see this with "slug" locomotives, which have no diesel engine and need concrete or steel plates to make up the difference in weight. This is because the maximum torque that can be applied before you reach wheel spin is partly a function of the weight applied to the driving wheels. So in order to pull the weight that a diesel electric locomotive can, you'll probably need to add weight to the electric locomotive, and you may as well add it with batteries.
- totalZero 5y ago
  You only need enough battery to get between lengths of track that can give you a recharge.
killingtime74 5y ago
Some trains using overhead now switch to diesel when the cables run out

simonblack 5y ago

That would be silly. Why would you lug all that weight around? That's just a waste of load-carrying capacity that could be used to transport more money-producing cargo.

YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y ago

I am curious if you could use flywheels instead of batteries like the gyrobus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrobus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrobus) used in the 1950s in switzerland. The biggest problem they had was the change in direction in sharp corners that shouldn't be the case for trains. Especially with the advancement in flywheel technology like suspending them in a vacuum.