@iguanaman3 posted:Yes it is the regenerative braking that recharges the batteries that make battery power more attractive than electrification of commuter rail lines. They won't have the efficiency that these mining locos have though. They sure look like converted SD units to me too.
These Electric Trains Never Need Recharging Thanks to Regenerative Braking
They create so much electricity traveling downhill fully loaded, they can go back to the top of the hill empty with power to spare.
Good old gravity. It’s always there for us, keeping us grounded — and now, charging our electric trains indefinitely. A mining company in Australia recently explained that four of its electric trains create so much electricity through regenerative braking going downhill, they can power themselves back to the top of the hill, and have a little extra battery power left over. Science!
So, of course, there’s a tiny catch: It’s the added weight of the cargo going downhill that helps to create so much energy through braking. When the vehicle goes back uphill, it’s significantly lighter, because it’s empty. There’s no such thing as free energy, and the laws of physics are unbending. Still, the net result is an electric vehicle that basically powers itself throughout its duty cycle. Neat!
We tossed this concept around in another thread back in March:
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...uses-the-word-simple
One tidbit that almost makes sense: If you use energy recovered via dynamic braking against the loaded train as it moves downhill to charge batteries, you should then be able to use the charge in the batteries to take the empty train back up the hill with no additional power needed because the train is now so much lighter.
But set the 'April Fools' headline aside. This is not perpetual motion. Loading the train at the top of the hill is where the inefficiency, which you would expect to find somewhere, comes into play -- when you look at the entire system.
Will it work? Unknown
Should somebody try it? Why not?
Mike
