3 ms·

> easy to add Trains are famously risk-averse designs. They're also really expensive and have to work for decades. It will be hard sell to convince a train op

> easy to add Trains are famously risk-averse designs. They're also really expensive and have to work for decades. It will be hard sell to convince a train operator that adding literal tonnes of batteries to a train with a complicated mesh of solar microforms spread over thousands of km of track will be a good deal in terms of regulatory approval, cost effectiveness, maintenance overheads in time and money and that your company will still be around in 20 years to run the system rather than going belly up in a tech crash and leaving them with a bunch of bricked hardware.

davnicwil 1y ago
Why should this setup be locked in to any particular third party company? How different is it to the train cars themselves being built by some company and then maintained by train company mechanics? And battery + electric motor setups are famously pretty straightforward, so this seems even more true. I don't disagree on the regulatory stuff being an issue, that's a very good point. The solar mesh feels like an orthogonal problem, also feels very solvable with just standard interfaces which would surely be mandated. I mean the solar bit is an add on too, you can always fall back to other means for battery charging, but seems like solar is just an obvious economically optimal solution in the circumstances.
orwin 1y ago
The new TGV-M already have batteries inside. When you have an issue with the catenary for any reason, the batteries can help keep the train momentum without risks, or if the train had to stop, allow you to start from 0kmh to 80kmh and keep the speed for 5 hours, with air conditioning and all. Your 2 hour trip now last 5 hours, but still. And since in my country every 10 km on major lines you have a "different" catenary circuit, the 80km/h speed will probably last 15 minutes and you can go back to 280 fast enough. I think the first was deployed this year, it it will be be available to export in 2-3 years.

davnicwil 1y ago

Why should this setup be locked in to any particular third party company? How different is it to the train cars themselves being built by some company and then maintained by train company mechanics? And battery + electric motor setups are famously pretty straightforward, so this seems even more true. I don't disagree on the regulatory stuff being an issue, that's a very good point. The solar mesh feels like an orthogonal problem, also feels very solvable with just standard interfaces which would surely be mandated. I mean the solar bit is an add on too, you can always fall back to other means for battery charging, but seems like solar is just an obvious economically optimal solution in the circumstances.

orwin 1y ago

The new TGV-M already have batteries inside. When you have an issue with the catenary for any reason, the batteries can help keep the train momentum without risks, or if the train had to stop, allow you to start from 0kmh to 80kmh and keep the speed for 5 hours, with air conditioning and all. Your 2 hour trip now last 5 hours, but still. And since in my country every 10 km on major lines you have a "different" catenary circuit, the 80km/h speed will probably last 15 minutes and you can go back to 280 fast enough. I think the first was deployed this year, it it will be be available to export in 2-3 years.