Solar Powered Maglev Trains

Two recent news articles led me to think more about sustainable energy.  One was the announcement from Tesla CEO Elon Musk that his company will be producing a new line of batteries for home and business use that can be paired with solar panels to store energy.  The obvious benefit is that solar energy can be stored for use during times when sunlight is not available. 

The second article was a report that a Japanese maglev train has broken its own world speed record, hitting 603km/h (374mi/h) in a test run near Mount Fuji.  The article also stated that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would visit the US where he would pitch for a role in building a new high-speed rail line between New York and Washington.

There have been plenty of advancements in sustainable energy use recently, including increased use of wind and solar for power generation and electric powered vehicles for transportation.  However, one area that has not seen much advancement is long- and intermediate-distance mass transit.  Maglev trains have yet to catch on, mostly because of the high cost of construction.  Fossil fuel powered planes and trains still dominate this market. 

This older article indicates that fuel costs comprise almost 30% of the cost of an airline ticket.  Fuel prices have dropped recently, but there is no reason to think they will not rise again in the future.  A 100% solar powered plane or train simply does not produce enough power yet to move large loads in short periods of time.  But, what if a maglev train infrastructure were built with solar panel stations paired with batteries along the track route?  The ability to place solar panels along the entire length of track would allow for a much larger surface area to collect solar energy.  With battery storage, the train could still operate on solar power during non-daylight hours.  The system could still be tied into the electrical grid as a safety backup and also to return excess energy to the grid.

The cost to construct this system would surely be high, but it might be possible to recover the high initial cost over the long term, considering that energy costs could possibly amount to nothing.  The cost of solar panels and related equipment has been trending down recently, and that trend should continue for battery storage with the announcement from Tesla. 

The recent maglev speed record that was set does not bring it to the level of air travel yet.  A 747 has a high subsonic cruise speed of about 570 mi/h.  However, maglev trains are much faster than even the highest speed rail trains, which clock in at about 220 mi/h.  Air travel would still be the preferred option for certain destinations including overseas, remote locations and longer cross-country trips.  Maglev though, could be competitive in the intermediate trip range, such as the New York to DC route proposed by Abe.  Consider the US map below depicting a cross-country solar powered maglev track system where trains could be run on a set schedule. 

 

 

Many major cities across the country could be connected with just two east-west-tracks and three north-south tracks.  Using the newly achieved speed record of 374 mi/h, here are some estimated travel times between cities:

San Francisco to Los Angeles: maglev = 1 hour, 2 minutes (drive time = 5 hours, 50 minutes)

Boston to New York: maglev = 35 minutes (drive time = 3 hours, 50 minutes)

Dallas to Houston: maglev = 40 minutes (drive time = 3 hours, 30 minutes)

It would take a large initial investment and some political will, but solar powered maglev trains could be an economically feasible alternative for a sustainable energy future.