this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2024
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anyone remember solar roadways?
This isn't nearly that dumb, because the train isn't actually riding directly on top of the solar cells.
It's close though, random shit gets dragged, kicked, dropped, etc all the time by trains.
A chain , cable, or wire comes loose on a car and goodbye panels and like all of them ...
If a chain, cable, or wire comes loose on a car then the panels are the least of anyone's worries. Also expect emergency brakes to kick in automatically. This is a train, not a bicycle.
I don't why they don't overhang them on frames. It'd cost more upfront, but hell alot cheaper than replacing the broken panels all the time.
where are you from and when have you last seen a train?
If that happens you got bigger things to worry about. When did you last see a train dragging along debris?
They could pair that with sensors / cameras for hanging things. These are already being produced and installed on tracks.
But still, what is the point of this? What problem does this solve? It's not like solar power deployment is bottlenecked by a lack of space to put the panels.
This just makes it more expensive and more difficult to maintain for no reason.
Honestly if they’re using the power lines for the train and a cleaning attachment on the train I can see it.
Actually, yes, I do. SOLAR FREAKING ROADWAYS
solar FREAKING roadways!
Yeah, I looked up the French solar roadways after seeing this to see the headline of 'total disaster'. So as expected.
Lamps were "total disasters" until they weren't. Crosswalks even. Toilets in Seattle.
There are lots of things that were "total disasters" at one point but were developed into safe reliable things. That's not a reason to abandon an endeavor entirely, but a great reason to redirect or refine it.
Also, headlines are not news, and most non-electrical engineers, let alone journalists, know jack fucking shit about electrical engineering. EEVBlog did a great few videos about solar roadways and their flaws.