Re:Volvo and Daimler bet on hydrogen truck boom this decade
by bluGill on Thursday May 13, 2021 @08:33AM
(#27141360)
It works out until you account for economics. It is cheaper to electrify a length of track vs a length of road. Rail also implies some form of planning to make the trip more efficient (rail works best with long trains - a situation that is unsafe on roads). Rail also allows a lot more cargo per lane/track and so it a lot cheaper - but only when you can take advantage of that. And so the real analysis is a lot more complex than could go into a 100 page report (much less a comment box).
Re:Volvo and Daimler bet on hydrogen truck boom this decade
by Retric on Thursday May 13, 2021 @09:15AM
(#27141701)
Efficiency is always a function of usage. Electric rail lines have a much lower average demand for electricity. Here the efficiency of rail actually works in the opposite direction where battery power trains and electrified roads mean significantly less total battery needs.
Consider in terms of electric highway usage, a car every 100 feet isn’t that dense and get’s you to a steady state of ~20kw * 5280/100 = 1MW of power for several hours a day. Electric trains have higher peak demand vs cars, but it’s on a very infrequent basis.
Of course every car isn’t EV and right now ~0 cars can use in road power delivery. But, that’s just a chicken and egg problem not an issue with the technology.
Anyway, electric rail is just down to the standard rail vs road brake down we already have. Roads are point to point without extra loading or unloading steps. Even with expensive gas and cheap electrified rail you still see a lot of long distance trucking. Long term with either electric highways or self driving trucks it’s going to favor roads even more let alone both.