Photograph: Courtesy of Carnegie Mellon
The world’s first battery-electric freight train, the FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive, underwent successful trials in California earlier this year where it was found to have cut fuel consumption by 11% which meant reducing the amount of diesel used by 6,200 gallons. Its next iteration, to be rolled out within two years, will be able to cut the consumption of diesel by nearly a third. Emissions should be entirely eliminated through development of accompanying hydrogen fuel cells. If the technology is used worldwide, planet-heating emissions could perhaps be cut by 300m tons a year, with nearly half of those saved emissions occurring in the US. Housed in a traditional locomotive body, the new battery system drives the axles of the train and uses the kinetic energy of the train’s braking to partially recharge the battery. The newest version will be a 7-megawatt battery locomotive, said to be 100 times the power and energy within a Tesla.