Power of Electricity & Lithium–SIEMENS Vectron and TESLA CyberTruck Leave NS999 in the Dust!

In the early 2000s, as Tesla’ Roadster marked the evolution of the sporty E-car using lithium-ion batteries, ASME reported “Norfolk Southern Railway Company (NS) is developing an all-electric switching locomotive, the NS999.”

Appears NS didn’t power up NS999, opening future for the Vectron and Cyber Truck.

“The original NS999, unveiled in September 2009, suffered from poor battery management and challenging battery packaging. The rebuilt NS999, anticipated in the 4^th quarter 2013, will be powered by Axion Power’s PbC^® batteries.”

If Axion Power’s PbC^® batteries were not meant for a monster train, what then? Says Tom Konrad with Forbes:

“While they cannot compete with Lithium-Ion batteries on energy density, PbC batteries require less complicated battery management, have better low temperature performance, are more cost effective to recycle, and have a much better safety record. They deliver all these advantages at significantly lower cost.”

Sounds pretty good and ‘green’ to me. But if not train industry who could use them?

“Axion’s PowerCube is an array of PbC batteries with associated control electronics mounted in a standard cargo container. These can be quickly deployed to remote locations, and are being marketed to commercial, military, and utility operations especially on offshore islands.” 

No surprise, with a never ending budget, Defense appears to have been the ideal business contractor at the time. With 10 years in and another 10 to go, the War in Afghanistan was the perfect location to use these PbC ‘babies.’

But in the end, the NS 999 prototype was shelved off in 2017. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Research, Development, and Technology presented a Norfolk Southern Final Report, Hybrid Locomotive for Energy Savings and Reduced Emissions:

“Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS) and Pennsylvania State University tested several different battery systems in hybrid locomotives. Advanced lithium-ion battery technology was the only kind that displayed the capacity to perform in heavy switching or local service.”

So WTF happened!

“Testing proved hybrid locomotives could reduce emissions and save fuel, sometimes in significant amounts.  However…these locomotives would require high annual operating subsidies.”

Interesting, Tesla’s EVs received ‘high annual operating subsidies’ from DOT and DOE. So why was development of the NS 999 really halted?

Pushback from OIL?  According to Gibson Barbee and Philippe Westreich in their 2013 paper, “NS 999 Electric Switcher Update”:

“If this research is successful, a zero point source emission electric locomotive could provide an option to reduce emissions in urban non-attainment areas and reduce dependence on petroleum.”

NS, appears OIL bastard fucked the Congressional Whores and your Horse! You know what that means, “Railroad Campaigning – Bastards of Wall Street, Time to Pay Your Whores!

Speaking of OIL, Chevron CEO questioned why some refer to American oil and gas companies as ‘big’ when they have such a small percentage of the overall market.

Hmm, seeing it from his ‘small’ point of view, we should refer to these Petros as ‘small oil’ dicks. Now that’s quite an image, unappealing but at least it gets us laughing 🙂

To the Vectron and Victor Go the Spoils!

Norfolk Southern (NS), how’s the old ‘plug and play’ worked out? Dropped you? Oh, betcha remember the good ole days plugging away and playing with the ole big players!

BNSF too appears to be gone. Of course, companies come and go. But it sure looks like NS ruined it for the other ‘choo choo trains.’

Greedy bastards, if ‘innovation’ was really what you wanted you wouldn’t have ditched your NS 999. Engineering a dual mode locomotive to run on electricity and diesel was and is feasible.

Did decommissioning electric trains lead to derailments on account of brake issues? “The NS 999 electric switcher is the first step to the ultimate goal of recovering braking energy from high power conventional diesel locomotives.”

Imagine how different things could have been. Still, unlike the NS 999 Hybrid Locomotive, Tesla pulled it off with the use of lithium for EVs and its Cyber Truck.

The US Rail Journal liked to write about “A new frontier in railway innovation” and include NS.

Wanna see the real new frontier? According to Global Railway Review, Siemens Mobility CEO says, “With the Vectron, we are delivering a state-of-the-art, digitally networked locomotive that makes it possible to operate through five different countries stretching from the Rhine River to the Alps.”

NS, appears you got a brand name management problem. Just think, a catchy prototype with a name like ‘Cyber Truck’ or ‘CyberBeast’ may have helped portray you as the ‘CyberTrain.’    

Looks like it’s time to put the old horse out of its misery and clear the tracks for the Vectron! 🙂