Re: BNSF battery road locomotive
Author: FUD
Date: 12-01-2019 - 16:54
Exactly. Of course, who says Trains had an exclusive - they can write up from a press release like anybody else, and with normal magazine lead times they almost have to be the last ones out with the news. That's just where I saw it.
Frankly, it's a decent idea, as long as they can keep the batteries from igniting (ask Boeing how well that worked in 787's that use battery packs instead of APUs - fixed now but several airplanes were damaged before proper containment was developed). Dynamic brakes in diesels just waste the regenerated power through big resistors. This lets them capture some of it and reuse it. Much like straight electrics can with regen and some other load on the line. Batteries, of course, aren't cheap, compared to diesel engines. Still, if you want diesel-electric hybrids, slotting some of these into locomotive consists is a lot easier in operating practice than trying to build actual hybrid locomotives.
Wonder if they're getting batteries from Tesla?