+ Hybrids Hit the Rails

If you think hybrid vehicles, chances are a Toyota Prius comes to mind; it's unlikely the average American would make any connection to the railroad industry. But at 273,000 lbs, RailPower Technologies'"Green Goat" and "Green Kid" switch engines are the largest hybrid vehicles in production. RailPower ( http://www.railpower.com/ ) indicates this hybrid can achieve 40%-60% reductions in fuel usage and greenhouse gas emissions. Observing that switching engines spending relatively little time pulling at maximum loads, the engineers at RailPower put one or two small 300hp diesel engines charging up a large bank of lead-acid batteries. Since most diesel locomotives already have electric motors driving the wheels, the stored energy in the batteries can be used to provide 2,000 horsepower available for traction. Luckily, the extra weight of lead-acid batteries in a locomotive provides more traction, so the exotic battery technology challenging automotive design is not required. It all adds up to a significant fuel & emissions savings based on well proven technology - a good design!
Because the hybrids have much lower emissions than regular diesel-electric locomotives, these units are targeted at heavy pollution zones like the port facilities in Southern California and Houston, and yards in major metro areas.

Other fuel & emission saving locomotive solutions are in production by RailPower, and also National Railway Equipment. GE, the largest domestic locomotive manufacturer, has demonstrated a hybrid mainline locomotive as well.

We'll check into some related developments with the ports, cranes, and shipping that these more environmentally friendly rail units service in future installments. Its apparent that the "load-leveling" capability that a battery system provides may have energy and emission saving capabilities in other novel applications..