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I doubt there’s any reason why trains couldn’t run on batteries. Anything that either stops and then starts again before refueling, or goes down and then up again before refueling, should be compatible with batteries due to regenerative braking. Trains have both of those properties.

Planes have neither of those properties which is what makes them hard to run off batteries.

Cargo ships also wouldn’t seem to have a problem. My understanding is that the drag on a hull increases sub-linearly relative to displacement. So a 10% increase in displacement might only increase drag by 1%. So it’s unlikely the weight penalty of batteries would be prohibitive.




Here’s why:

You would need a whole other ship full of lithium batteries in tow so a useful size cargo ship would have the enormous energy required for a regular cargo trip.

Trains work better, but charge time would impact operation feasibility, and just electrifying the railway with overhead cables is currently cheaper than lithium battery solutions.

Hence the case for hydrogen fuel cells for train applications.




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