New Autonomous Battery-Electric Trains Are Coming For Your Diesel

The mining site fits in with Intramotev’s near-term plans for deploying TugVolt railcars in self-contained use cases, including ports, processing facilities and plant-to-plant operations as well as mining.

Red State Launches Diesel-Killing Electric Trains At Nation

The vision of long-distance electric freight trains will have to wait a bit, though possibly it will be a small bit. In a press statement, Luchini emphasized that the “captive route” model is just a stepping stone.

“…we look to apply the packetization of the internet model to freight logistics initially on short captive routes and remove the actual distance then rapidly expanding to the full network of 140,000 miles of existing U.S. track without additional infrastructure,” he explained. “We envision a future where freight can move itself without waiting for a locomotive, making the system more efficient and environmentally friendly.”

In the same press release, Intramotev also noted that it aspires to help other railway stakeholders meet the 2050 net zero goal of the Federal Railroad Administration’s Climate Challenge.

The Climate Challenge is a voluntary goal-setting exercise and it accommodates three types of carbon offsets that enable stakeholders to continue using fossil fuels: purchasing carbon credits, producing on-site renewable energy, and carbon sequestration (planting trees, for example).

That may not sound too ambitious in terms of rapid decarbonization, but FRA appears to expect that new technology will push the need for offsets into the background.

“Achieving this [net zero] target will contribute to FRA’s key goals of building a safe, efficient, and modern transportation system that will expand economic opportunities, create cleaner communities, and help avert the worst effects of climate change,” FRA states. “Simultaneously, the Challenge will promote the country’s global leadership in innovation and climate protection.”

Interesting! CleanTechnica has been taking note of almost two dozen US states in which public officials have been working in favor of fossil energy stakeholders by railing against ESG (environmental, social, governance) investing. Meanwhile, businesses in their own home states are setting up shop to produce new clean tech that will decarbonize the whole US economy, including bulk energy storage and green hydrogen (see more coverage here).

It looks like Missouri can join the list. On April 3, State Attorney General Andrew Baily reported that he is joining 20 other attorneys general to warn a group of 50 asset managers against “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investments being made with Americans’ hard-earned money.”

“My office is putting these companies on notice that we will do everything in our power to safeguard Missourians’ investments from being corrupted in favor of a radical social agenda,” Baily stated.

It appears that Baily did not get the memo about radical social diesel-killing electric trains being developed by a startup based in St. Louis, right in his own backyard. Nevertheless, if all goes according to plan, Baily’s home state will be the centerpiece of a railway electrification web stretching from coast to coast.