USA: The Department of Energy has awarded $4·4m from its Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy initiative to support the testing of Parallel Systems’ prototype autonomous battery-electric vehicles for transporting containers by rail.
The tests are intended to look at vehicle stability, contact-based platooning and energy efficiency. Stability testing will be undertaken at the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colorado, with analysis by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Rail Transportation & Engineering Center at the University of Illinois. This assessment will look at Parallel’s concept for platooning, with further research on bumper designs, control logic and energy consumption.
The project will be one of the first to be evaluated using NREL’s Advanced Locomotive Technology & Rail Infrastructure Optimisation System software, an ARPA-E funded tool designed to simulate and optimise energy use, train dynamics and demand-driven freight scheduling.
Testing is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2022 and run for 29 months.
‘The funds awarded from the Department of Energy will help us achieve our mission by supporting Parallel through our advanced testing phase’, said Parallel Systems CEO Matt Soule on February 14. ‘This critical step will enable us to move trucking freight to clean rail and accelerate the decarbonisation of the entire freight industry.’
