From the Erie, PA Times News, Jan 13, 2022: 'This is a significant order;' Wabtec sells 4 more Erie-built electric locomotives (yahoo.com)
I'm still waiting for nuclear locomotives. No charging required, just a fireman shoveling uranium pellets.
Maybe the ability to use dynamic braking to assist in a partial recharge of its batteries? Who knows. With the railroad world awash in stored power, I'd be surprised if sales volume of expensive battery-powered locomotives reaches meaningful heights anytime soon, with the exception of deployment in states that force it through regulation.
I believe the article said it would be coupled to a diesel locomotive for charging as needed. This would form a hybrid configuration. The article went on to say that this configuration would result in an 11% reduction in carbon emissions.
Correct. My car is a Kia Niro and is a hybrid using both an electric motor as well as a regular gasoline engine. Has a large battery under the floor which is charged by either the gasoline engine, coasting downhill or braking. I do not plug it in ever. I love it! I love it more when I drive past gas stations which, despite having only a 11.8 gallon fuel tank, I do quite often. I get over 50 mpg in the summer with the A/C on but only 46 mpg in the winter as I need the gas engine to create heat. On the interstate highways I get about 49 mpg while around town I get up to 58 mpg. At red lights the engine shuts off. Ford has just announced a hybrid pickup which they will call the Maverick and they project it will sell at a base, no frills, price of $20,000. Welcome to the future.
There's a lot of stuff with the new ones. Trains, cars and planes. That For Maverick is not a truck. Those kind are only seen in the suburbs.
That's what they said about the Datsuns and other import trucks when they first came over... Where do you think most half-ton pickup buyers live? Sure, it ain't no Super Duty, but it ought do the work most suburban pickup buyers need done, and at very fair price (albeit at a new definition of 'stripped-down to the bare necessities') The only reason I sold my '86 Toyota pickup in '97 was because I didn't want to have a vehicle that couldn't carry my family. Then I did without a pickup for 5 years. Never wanna do that again either. So I bought a brand new 2002 F-250 SD 7.3L diesel crew cab. And I still got it. Was my daily driver 'til I retired at the end of 2019. Still makes the occasional run to Home Depot, Lowes, etc. I 'bout fell out of my recliner when, during the depth of the COVID shutdown last year, my wife suggested we go for a drive in it (instead of our Explorer Platinum).
Actually, I'd consider it more like the old definition of stripped-down (although it does still come with an automatic transmission, air conditioning, keyless entry, and power windows).
I think I read that it does not come with power windows standard... But yes, I see your point. My grandfathers '67(?) F100 had manual EVERYTHING, including the choke! Man, was that truck simple under the hood! The switch to automatic transmissions (with no choice for manual) is testament to the quality/durability of automatic transmissions, and just plain production/development efficiency. Vinyl floors and seats are really nice for some uses (you just hose it out when it gets muddy). Now you have to buy protective trays for floor mats to protect carpets in most vehicles.
The gas engine shuts off but you still have electric power. So, you start out with electric then the gas engine cuts in whenever the computer deems it necessary. Meanwhile you do not waste gas idling.
Mine didn't shut off when I stopped. With full batteries it just relaxed. Or ran out of gas. But then it didn't restart on it's own. I still had batteries to go to the gas station. Such fun in those old days. Now I have to take the battery up to the apartment and bring it back down. Maybe I should get a generator for in the trailer.
The article mentions Rio Tinto in Western Australia buying 4 FLX locos. That would be a good match as Rio has a fleet of C44-9's which must be near the end of their useful life and perfect trade in's for conversion. Charging them is quite functional for the Pilbara mining railroads as they spend quite a while at or near idle while loading and the terrain is partially downhill to the coast for unloading so they are charging from dynamic breaking. Fortescue Mining is buying 2 Joule battery locos from Progress Rail. Fortescue runs SD70Ace's so it will be interesting to see if its final configuration is CC or BB+BB.
I love how most people don’t understand that a locomotive is already a hybrid as the definition stands today.
I don't think you can classify the diesel locomotive a hybrid (in the same sense of hybrid automobiles) unless it has a battery capable of propelling the locomotive significant distances without the diesel engine running. In other words, the diesel in a locomotive has to run full time while under way, whereas the engine in a hybrid automobile does not. Also different between hybrid automobiles and diesel locomotives, is the fact that when the engine is propelling the automobile, it is not doing so by generating power for the electric motor to propel the car, but is mechanically coupled to the wheels. What Wabtec and others are doing is adding batteries to the diesel locomotive, to transform it into a true hybrid (in the same sense as the hybrid automobile.
While I would generally agree, hybrid is a loosely defind term with many different uses. A hybrid automobile usually has two sources of power, i. e., gasoline and battery. Since a typical diesel electric locomotive still only has one source of power - electricity for the electric motors is converted directly from the diesel prime mover with no alternate source such as batteries - it isn't "hybrid" in that sense.
Another side show in the diesel-electric/hybrid propulsion is/was the use of traction-motor-only "slugs" that, coupled to a diesel locomotive, borrowed electricity from the locomotive to run it's traction motors. This was a means of increasing tractive effort, but not range or power. I don't know if any slugs are still in service, or if MU'd diesels can essentially do the same thing (i.e. shut off the diesel engine in one or more locomotives in a consist, while the remaining diesel engine(s) provide power to all locomotives' traction motors.
Slugs are still around on the UP. Recently rebuilt from old SD40-2's. Mostly in yard service. Easiest way to spot them is that they have no roof fans. Otherwise, they look the same. Also, their road number's last two digits match their mothers. Ex UPY 312 with UPY 412. The slugs have a full cab with everything an engine would have, and you can run the train from it.