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It will be very interesting to see how this locomotive works out.  I hope we will be quickly informed of the technical details of the locomotive and its performance during testing.  I am somewhat skeptical only because this is publicly funded, and all wrapped up in the green, sustainability movement, which I have observed to contain a lot of symbolism over substance.   <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> One thing to consider is that it is possible that this new locomotive will usher in a new era of motive power that will actually be more expensive to operate, and therefore drive up the consumer cost of transportation.  It might be the price of sustainability.  Greenness and cost reduction do not necessarily go hand in hand.  Often they are mutually exclusive.  The payoff for greenness and sustainability is in saving the planet from destruction.  If it happens to reduce operating costs from higher efficiency, so much the better, but in many cases sustainability raises the overall cost of a product.  The extra cost is the price of saving the planet.  Furthermore, these green advances are prone to become legally mandated because they otherwise would not be embraced due to the higher cost. <o:p></o:p> If this new locomotive promised to lower the cost of rail transport, I would be amazed if every major railroad and locomotive builder were not investing in it.  If it were some exotic new proprietary technology that could reduce costs, I would not be surprised to see it being held by just one developer.  But a battery-powered locomotive is an old concept, so I would be surprised to see it suddenly take off as a locomotive having a lower operating/life-cycle cost.  That could be the case if there were a major breakthrough in battery technology.  A lot of potential battery power applications are waiting for a better battery.  Perhaps that day will arrive, and the R&D work with the NS 999 will pave the way for a truly cost effective battery locomotive. <o:p></o:p> Interestingly, the news of this new locomotive could fit well into our recent thread about the recapture of dynamic brake energy from diesel-electric locomotives.  That indeed seems to be the core of improvement embodied in the NS 999.  And maybe that core, coupled with new technology in the control systems could have solid merit in the pursuit of a more cost effective locomotive.   <o:p></o:p> As has been mentioned here and on other forums, the dynamic brake functionality of the NS 999 is liable to be quite different from that of conventional diesel-electrics.  With the latter, the purpose is to achieve better braking performance.  With the NS 999, the purpose is to capture as much braking energy as possible.  Moreover, the braking performance objective of conventional dynamic braking would not have much application in yard service.  So the dynamic braking objective with the NS 999 should be to capture as much dynamic brake energy as possible all the way down to dead stop, and this should be the primary braking, unlike conventional dynamic braking.  <o:p></o:p> The problem with this objective is that dynamic braking force falls off as motor speed drops.  Theoretically, dynamic braking could not actually stop the locomotive.  All it can do is slow the locomotive down to some degree.  From that point, bringing the locomotive to dead stop would need to be accomplished either by rolling resistance or by air brakes.  I don’t know what is needed to maximize the dynamic brake regeneration at the slowest possible travel speeds.  One way to accomplish this would be to use higher speed motors and gear them down farther.  The point would be to have the motors turning fast enough at say five mph and slower, to generate enough power to act as brakes if that power load were used to charge the batteries.  But I am guessing that NS 999 uses conventional traction motors and gearing, so maybe there is another way to extend the dynamic braking to near stop of the locomotive travel for the objective of recapturing as much energy as possible.   <o:p></o:p>
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