GE to build hybrid locomotive battery plant in NY

GE Transportation plans to spend $100 million to build a state-of-the-art plant in upstate New York to produce advanced storage batteries for hybrid locomotives and other applications.

Read more at:

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/n ... p?id=20408

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/ ... y-factory/

http://uk.reuters.com/article/burningIs ... VN20090512

An interesting development considering the high cost of doing business in NYS and the contentious relationship between the state and GE.

SS

Super Seis wrote:An interesting development considering the high cost of doing business in NYS and the contentious relationship between the state and GE.

SS

Bet you they're being economically stimulated.....

I wonder what kind of sodium type battery they are contemplating. The sodium-sulfur battery seems to fit the bill but it operates at 300 to 350 deg. C which i think is a little hot for locomotive service. For the other applications they are contemplating such as energy storage from wind mills or charging them during off peak hours for peak shaving purposes it looks like a great idea if its safely locked up behind the fence at a substation. For locomotive service it just looks too dangerous.

"There are liars, damn liars, and battery engineers"

Just to up date this. The locomotive version of the battery is a Sodium-nickel-chlorine battery that operates at 572 deg. F. A good choice for stationary use such as storage for intermittent sources such as wind mill powered generators such as GE is also heavily invested in and for peak shaving duty. For a battery of this type to operate the salt electrolyte must be molten. I wonder how they will get this past the FRA.

Oh my.

That's crazy.

On the one hand, you have the high voltage cabinet in any locomotive that workers can be protected from, and the heat in the compartment where the prime mover is...but this just seems far too high.

Dave Becker