If Gasoline Hits 10 USD a Gallon

[NeilBlanchard]

I agree trains would be smart. The ad says close to 500 miles per ton per gallon of diesel. If our trains were electric with overhead wires, they would be about 2X better, and the regenerative braking would be substantial.

[user removed]

I like hydraulic hybrid trains.

regards
Mech

[Ladogaboy]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

I like hydraulic hybrid trains.

regards
Mech

Haha!

Either way, converting over to full-electric from diesel-electric would be a good idea, but I'd be concerned with the cost of developing that infrastructure. The system would have to provide almost 5,000 amps of current to each engine.

[user removed]

No problemo .

I wonder how much energy it takes to shoot a 25 ton aircraft off a carrier deck in less than 2 seconds?

Current Diesel electrics use a giant stove on top of the engine to convert brake energy into waste heat, because they couldn't possible put it into any battery that quickly.

Carry an accumulator car behind the engine to store that same energy.

Now you can pulse and glide a train!

Using that same accumulator-drive system.

They use electric motors because no transmission would hold up, so they have the same issues with mileage as a Chevy volt.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

LOL I am listening to one of the coal trains passing by on it's way to the docks at Newport News. 168 coal cars pass by here every hour as they haul West Virginia to China, one train load at a time.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

I know Neil will probably have a stroke reading this but the most efficient train was actually a steam engine made just prior to WW2, measured in the btu per mile of the anthracite coal it used for power.

I read that somehwere on the internet so we all know it has to be true.



regards
Mech

[Arragonis]

As Neil said in the start of this thread European prices are much higher than the US and we survive.

Current cost in UK is about $9 USG but most of that is tax which pays mostly for things like the NHS etc. It means I would spend a lot on fuel if I drove as much as you guys in the colonies do but I don't have to pay for health insurance or treatments unless I choose to go private - Swings and roundabouts.

We get smaller, more fuel efficient cars for other reasons too - partly to do with tax which is based on CO2. Whether that is a good measure instead of FE or efficiency by some other grading I'm not convinced.

[Ladogaboy]

Americans also tend to have to travel farther. I could travel through two, three, maybe four countries in Europe for the distance it takes me to visit my parents (they are in the same state).

Don't the higher European gas prices also result from fewer subsidies than in the United States?

[jakobnev]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Current Diesel electrics use a giant stove on top of the engine to convert brake energy into waste heat, because they couldn't possible put it into any battery that quickly.

With electrified rail they could feed the line - no need for expensive hybrid technology in every train. I'm sure that nearby trains would be more than happy to soak up the power.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Ladogaboy

Either way, converting over to full-electric from diesel-electric would be a good idea, but I'd be concerned with the cost of developing that infrastructure. The system would have to provide almost 5,000 amps of current to each engine.

Don't have to develop anything, just buy it off the shelf from European train equipment manufacturers - something like 80% of European rail is electric.