Collaboration With Parallel Systems Quantifies Benefits of Autonomous, Battery-Electric
Rail Vehicles
rail vehicles built by Parallel Systems reduce the energy and greenhouse gas emissions
required to move freight by rail. Photo from Parallel Systems
For more than a century, American freight trains—responsible for moving a fifth of
the nation’s cargo—have run nearly exclusively on carbon-based fuels. But that could
change in the coming decade, as railways eye ambitious federal clean-energy goals that call for investment in electric locomotives and infrastructure supporting zero-emission
freight movement.
Already, a collaboration between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and
Parallel Systems, a Los Angeles-based autonomous electric rail car startup, is poised
to put freight decarbonization on the fast track.
Propelling Progress
Parallel Systems’ groundbreaking battery-electric rail cars represent a potential
transformation for the rail industry.
Much like the self-driving electric cars already on the roads, Parallel’s rail cars
use battery-electric motors, cameras, perception sensors, and advanced braking systems
to guide themselves along conventional railways—no onboard engineer or conductor needed.
But unlike conventional freight trains, which are propelled nearly exclusively by
diesel engines, Parallel Systems’ vehicles combine electric powertrains with a technology
called “platooning.” Each self-propelled, battery-electric rail car pushes the one
in front of it, reducing aerodynamic drag and lowering the amount of energy needed
to power the platoon.
This explainer video demonstrates Parallel Systems’ autonomous, battery-electric rail
car technology. Text version
And rather than being linked by heavy metal couplers, like traditional freight trains,
Parallel’s autonomous rail cars are capable of seamlessly grouping and separating
themselves while traveling. That allows them to keep train crossings clear by automatically
separating to let vehicles cross their paths. By combining the high freight efficiency
of rail with the flexibility and speed normally associated with trucks, the technology
is designed to enable faster, cheaper, and lower-emissions movement of goods.
Parallel’s rail cars are currently being field-tested to demonstrate track worthiness
at higher speeds and reduced braking distances compared to conventional trains. But
before deployment, those rail cars—and corresponding logistics infrastructure—will
require powerful software to run autonomous vehicle controls, dispatch cars, manage
fleets, and handle terminal operations. And before building out costly physical infrastructure,
Parallel can glean significant insights toward optimization of vehicle and network
controls, infrastructure placement, and rail yard operations to minimize both operating
costs and carbon emissions.
That is where NREL’s commercial vehicle expertise comes into play. With funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E)
and support from the University of Texas at Austin, NREL researchers are applying
the laboratory’s newly released Advanced Locomotive Technology and Rail Infrastructure Optimization System (ALTRIOS) software to help optimize Parallel’s operations. ALTRIOS, the world’s first comprehensive and open-source software to optimize rail decarbonization, will quantify how Parallel Systems vehicles reduce energy consumption and greenhouse
gas emissions relative to existing locomotives.
“If we want to rapidly decarbonize the transportation sector, we should be moving
more freight on rail,” said NREL’s Jason Lustbader, who leads NREL’s advanced vehicles
and charging infrastructure research and serves as principal investigator for the
project. “But there are a lot of barriers we need to address to decarbonize rail freight
movement, from logistics and scheduling to building infrastructure.”
Combined, these two first-in-the-world products—NREL’s rail optimization software
and Parallel’s battery-electric rail vehicles—will help shift a portion of the freight
currently carried by on-road trucks to rail instead, catalyzing decarbonization across
the whole transportation sector.
From Trucks to Trains
But why shift cargo from trucks to rail? Because moving freight on battery-electric
rail vehicles can use 75% less energy per mile than moving it on a semitruck. It also frees up highways for easier passenger car
travel, reducing traffic congestion. Together, those efficiencies can create enormous
fuel savings, helping to significantly reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas
emissions.
“That’s why Parallel Systems’ prototype is such an exciting, disruptive concept,”
Lustbader said. “It’s also why we designed ALTRIOS: to help overcome the challenges
of cost-effectively and quickly transitioning to greener rail operations.”
Importantly, noted Matt Soule, co-founder and chief executive officer of Parallel
Systems, diverting freight from on-road trucks to rail vehicles represents an opportunity
to accelerate wider transportation decarbonization.
“The rail industry presents one of the most promising avenues for decarbonizing the
entire transportation sector,” Soule said. “Our goal at Parallel is to give railroads
the tools they need to convert some of the $940 billion U.S. trucking industry to
rail.
“The partnership we’ve formed with NREL is helping Parallel Systems’ technology to
become more flexible, responsive, and optimized—all benefits that will help railroads
to compete more directly with the more energy-intensive modes,” he added.
In pursuit of a clean energy future for all, NREL researchers are bringing cutting-edge
data science, advanced analytics, and technological breakthroughs to bear on the freight
decarbonization space. Together with leadership from industry partners, the future
of freight—and transportation—is looking greener all the time.
Learn more about NREL’s sustainable transportation and mobility research and its specific focus on commercial vehicle decarbonization. And sign up for NREL’s quarterly transportation and mobility research newsletter,
Sustainable Mobility Matters, to stay current on the latest news.
