Battery-electric “Infinity Train” will charge itself using gravity

“The regeneration of electricity on the downhill loaded sections will remove the need for the installation of renewable energy generation and recharging infrastructure, making it a capital efficient solution for eliminating diesel and emissions from our rail operations.”

the team has calculated that there’s enough downhill slope and braking opportunities in the loaded direction to charge up the battery regeneratively, and the train is so much lighter when it’s unloaded that the battery can take it all the way back to the mine and start the journey again without needing a charge.

more…

Tau.Neutrino said:

Battery-electric “Infinity Train” will charge itself using gravity

“The regeneration of electricity on the downhill loaded sections will remove the need for the installation of renewable energy generation and recharging infrastructure, making it a capital efficient solution for eliminating diesel and emissions from our rail operations.”

the team has calculated that there’s enough downhill slope and braking opportunities in the loaded direction to charge up the battery regeneratively, and the train is so much lighter when it’s unloaded that the battery can take it all the way back to the mine and start the journey again without needing a charge.

more…

makes sense

How many sites around Australia would allow for downhill charging and uphill return?

Tau.Neutrino said:

How many sites around Australia would allow for downhill charging and uphill return?

Mmm …

few? There aren’t a lot of high altitude mines here.

Tau.Neutrino said:

How many sites around Australia would allow for downhill charging and uphill return?

7

Tau.Neutrino said:

Battery-electric “Infinity Train” will charge itself using gravity

“The regeneration of electricity on the downhill loaded sections will remove the need for the installation of renewable energy generation and recharging infrastructure, making it a capital efficient solution for eliminating diesel and emissions from our rail operations.”

the team has calculated that there’s enough downhill slope and braking opportunities in the loaded direction to charge up the battery regeneratively, and the train is so much lighter when it’s unloaded that the battery can take it all the way back to the mine and start the journey again without needing a charge.

more…

I had a meeting

I had a meeting during the week with a company I worked with many years ago. They’re doing some shit with Twiggy and it appears that he may be fair dinkum about lowering his footprint to as low as possible.

Tau.Neutrino said:

Battery-electric “Infinity Train” will charge itself using gravity

“The regeneration of electricity on the downhill loaded sections will remove the need for the installation of renewable energy generation and recharging infrastructure, making it a capital efficient solution for eliminating diesel and emissions from our rail operations.”

the team has calculated that there’s enough downhill slope and braking opportunities in the loaded direction to charge up the battery regeneratively, and the train is so much lighter when it’s unloaded that the battery can take it all the way back to the mine and start the journey again without needing a charge.

more…

Well the project is qi, but the article is terrible. They are extracting gravitational potential energy from the iron ore as the train falls from mine level to sea level, so other mines in a similar position could use it, but that’s about it.

You can use regenerative braking combined with an external power source of course, and trains have been doing that for about 60 years.

The Rev Dodgson said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Battery-electric “Infinity Train” will charge itself using gravity

“The regeneration of electricity on the downhill loaded sections will remove the need for the installation of renewable energy generation and recharging infrastructure, making it a capital efficient solution for eliminating diesel and emissions from our rail operations.”

the team has calculated that there’s enough downhill slope and braking opportunities in the loaded direction to charge up the battery regeneratively, and the train is so much lighter when it’s unloaded that the battery can take it all the way back to the mine and start the journey again without needing a charge.

more…

Well the project is qi, but the article is terrible. They are extracting gravitational potential energy from the iron ore as the train falls from mine level to sea level, so other mines in a similar position could use it, but that’s about it.

You can use regenerative braking combined with an external power source of course, and trains have been doing that for about 60 years.

> You can use regenerative braking combined with an external power source of course, and trains have been doing that for about 60 years.

Ta. My imperfect memory had a suspicion that that was already being done.