Battery-Driven Locomotives

You knew batteries could power cars. Did you know they could also power locomotives?

Batteries can provide up to 2,000 horsepower to a locomotive. What's more, locomotives spend many minutes while dynamic braking, as opposed to cars that brake for only a few seconds at a time. The energy captured from regenerative braking can cut a locomotive's fuel use by 15%, equivalent to 25,000 – 30,000 gallons of diesel per vehicle per year, and eliminate more than 300,000 kg of CO₂ emissions, equivalent to that from 2,600 cars. The reduction in NO_x emissions is even more significant.

General Electric is currently modeling a sodium metal-chloride battery for use in hybrid locomotives as an alternative to the lithium and metal-hydride batteries used in cars. Key requirements for a locomotive battery are:

• Higher energy densities
• Ability to withstand the environment of a long-haul locomotive
• Tolerance of cell failures in high-voltage strings, where batteries with failed cells continue to operate safely and effectively.

GE has posted a video on its site about the future of battery-powered hybrid locomotives. To see it, click here.