Volvo has been working on this, in conjunction with the Swedish government:
https://www.volvogroup.com/en-en/news/2018/sep/volvo-plans-to-build-electric-roads.html
I've also seen a demonstration of wireless power embedded in a road:
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/qualcomms-inductive-charging-road-could-change-the-way-we-build-evs/
Cheers, Peter
On 12/3/20 10:42 PM, Glenn Brooks via EV wrote:
There are actually three forms of resistance commonly associated with rail
transport: 1) train resistance - the loaded weight of the consist and
locomotive; 2) grade and curvature resistance imparted by friction between the
rails and wheels, and 3) vehicle speed. These three factors establish the
tractive effort that your powered unit needs to overcome to pull goods along a
rail.
On the positive side, steel rails have a very low coefficient of friction, so
easily can move many hundreds, if not thousands of tons of deadweight, compared
to wheeled vehicles operating on asphalt. On the negative side, grades over 2%
create very high rolling resistance. So most highway grades won’t accommodate
rail transport - unless the wheels are individually powered, and hydraulically
grip the rail from sides and top.
So lots to consider with rail transport methods,,,,
Glenn
Sent from my iPad
On Dec 3, 2020, at 8:14 PM, Michael Ross via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote:
The gravitational energy you put into a vehicle climbing a hill, comes back
to you on the downhill side. The effect of weight is often overestimated
for this reason. Battery power is very efficient, in terms of how much you
put in, is close to what you get out, unlike with fossil fuels which are
inordinately wasteful. Not to mention the general filthy nature of it.
For some years now solar production is less costly than fossil fuel
production. It just takes a long time for existing production to wear out
and be retired. The sunk costs of building refineries is enormous and solar
needs its basic infrastructure to be constructed up front. Real estate,
substations, transmission and distribution lines, point of sale apparatus,
and so on. These are what make adoption of renewables slow. However, new
construction of solar and wind are less costly than new construction of
fossil fuel based energy means.
On Thu, Dec 3, 2020 at 10:55 PM Peri Hartman via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org>
wrote:
If nearly all the savings is from reducing wind resistance, by drafting,
then the rails aren't really needed. We could build more expensive
infrastructure, but a cheaper solution is often better. In other words,
the focus should be on making drafting possible, not reducing rolling
resistance.
On wikipedia, one estimate for Teslas semi battery is 11800 kg, or more
than 20 tons. So, yes, a lot of weight. So, non battery power could
help. But it doesn't have to be rails. Centenaries would be much less
expensive to construct. Still, my guess is the long term cheapest
solution is the large battery. Over time, they will get cheaper and
lighter.
Big Snip
--
Michael E. Ross
(919) 585-6737 Land
(919) 901-2805 Cell and Text
(919) 576-0824 <https://www.google.com/voice/b/0?pli=1#phones> Tablet,
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