Are they generating more power than they are spending by making the train go? Has Barcelona mastered perpetual motion??
It’s good thing, sure, but it’s no savior. The blurb makes it sound like it’s a net gain of energy, and that’s impossible. It’s not free energy. It’s just upcycled waste.
I don’t read it as magical energy created out of nothing, but I do read it as “free” energy that would exist whether this regeneration system is used or not, that would otherwise be lost as heat.
With or without regenerative braking, the train system is still going to accelerate stopped trains up to operational speed, then slow them down to a stop, at regular intervals throughout the whole train system. Tapping into that existing energy is basically free energy at that point.
Only because of the speed of the train. Fuel spent accelerating to later brake is wasted fuel. More efficient would be spending only enough fuel to come to a full stop without braking.
Efficient from an electrical standpoint, but not a transportation one. You can’t “improve” it so much that it no longer does the thing it’s supposed to do.
Are they generating more power than they are spending by making the train go? Has Barcelona mastered perpetual motion??
It’s good thing, sure, but it’s no savior. The blurb makes it sound like it’s a net gain of energy, and that’s impossible. It’s not free energy. It’s just upcycled waste.
I don’t read it as magical energy created out of nothing, but I do read it as “free” energy that would exist whether this regeneration system is used or not, that would otherwise be lost as heat.
With or without regenerative braking, the train system is still going to accelerate stopped trains up to operational speed, then slow them down to a stop, at regular intervals throughout the whole train system. Tapping into that existing energy is basically free energy at that point.
Only because of the speed of the train. Fuel spent accelerating to later brake is wasted fuel. More efficient would be spending only enough fuel to come to a full stop without braking.
Efficient from an electrical standpoint, but not a transportation one. You can’t “improve” it so much that it no longer does the thing it’s supposed to do.
So you want the trains to coast from station to station? Do you really believe that or is it very important for you to be right?
It’s also the default for commuter trains, they pretty much all do it.