@rdunniii posted:My Tesla is powered by lithium batteries and charges in my closed garage when I am asleep. Most of my power tools are powered by lithium batteries as well as my lawn mower and my snow blower. My drone is lithium powered. And my laptop. And other things. I am simply not concerned about lithium batteries any longer. BUT, part of the issue with model trains is the availability of a complete system. For years I tried hobbling something together. Not a concern about the batteries but getting it to work and fit as expected at all.
For years I spent the most frustrating time during my career dealing with vendors pointing fingers at each other when things didn't work properly and was having the same issues with model trains. Ahhhhh... no more!
It's true, there are plenty of lithium batteries out there in many different forms. However, a lot of the things you mentioned are built by large corporations, a few are very large. The drone is probably the most comparable thing to trains. I'm not doubting that it's possible that there might be a line of battery powered trains soon, or even that we may see this become mainstream. I just see it as a potential hurdle, and I think on the fly charging removes most of that as well as bringing a lot of user friendliness.
