Charging EV on car-carrying trains from OHLE

[jamesontheroad]

Nightjet, VR, Eurotunnel and a number of smaller operators around Europe offer car-carrying services, usually on overnight trains. Apart from the Shuttle, most of these journeys are 8-10 hours end to end.

With growing numbers of EV on the road, might it be possible in the future to imagine a car-carrying train with the ability to use the OHLE electricity supply to charge electric cars while they are in transit?

I'm imagining how we might draw current from a dedicated pantograph over a car-carrying wagon, feeding a charging system on the car-carrying vehicle with CCS hook-ups positioned close to the individual berths.

Are the voltages and current of a typical electrified railway in Europe able to provide sufficient power to charge one or more cars without dimishing the power supply to trains?

 

[class ep-09]

I suppose it won’t need separate pantograph , just connecting cables to the “passenger” carriages, which already have electricity provided by the OLE ( via loco’s panto) .
In short , brilliant idea .

 

[DanielB]

Plenty of countries offer 230V plug sockets on trains and you can charge a car with 230V (although it won't go quickly). So that part shouldn't be the issue.
Power supply to trains might however become an issue in countries with 1500V OHLE...

 

[furnessvale]

What would be the current draw on a trainload of such cars (or HGVs)? I could foresee some serious upgrades to OHLE being required!

 

[The Lad]

Well go for 7Kw each ( about 30 miles per hour so 300 miles in 10 hr) and 50 cars =350 Kw (500hp) so not a lot cf a class 92

 

[furnessvale]

Well go for 7Kw each ( about 30 miles per hour so 300 miles in 10 hr) and 50 cars =350 Kw (500hp) so not a lot cf a class 92

That would work, although I could foresee some wanting to draw more, quicker, eg deliberately turning up at a CT terminal with a flat battery and wanting to leave the other end fully charged.

Some measure of limiting current draw, as well as charging (financial) would be needed.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Thanks for all your comments. Also for the respectful explanation of basic physics, since I have always struggled to remember the difference between volts, watts, amps, etc. I was once taught a useful analogy about water flowing through a pipe (the speed of the water, the diameter of the pipe, etc) but unfortunately it didn't stick!

 

[zwk500]

Thanks for all your comments. Also for the respectful explanation of basic physics, since I have always struggled to remember the difference between volts, watts, amps, etc. I was once taught a useful analogy about water flowing through a pipe (the speed of the water, the diameter of the pipe, etc) but unfortunately it didn't stick!

From the thread about electric fences:

In the water flowing through a hose analogy:

• Volts = pressure
• Current = width of the hose
• Power = total amount of water flowing

So for a given amount of water you can either have a narrower stream with more pressure, or a wider stream with lower pressure.

 

[JonasB]

That would work, although I could foresee some wanting to draw more, quicker, eg deliberately turning up at a CT terminal with a flat battery and wanting to leave the other end fully charged.

Some measure of limiting current draw, as well as charging (financial) would be needed.

A standard electric car charger works that way. The charger, not the car, decides how fast the car charges.

 

[Ken H]

That would work, although I could foresee some wanting to draw more, quicker, eg deliberately turning up at a CT terminal with a flat battery and wanting to leave the other end fully charged.

Some measure of limiting current draw, as well as charging (financial) would be needed.

would there be a problem of a train full of EV's charginh overloading the 'hotel power' circuits.

 

[Nym]

would there be a problem of a train full of EV's charginh overloading the 'hotel power' circuits.

It would need to be properly designed to cope with it.

 

[dgl]

A standard electric car charger works that way. The charger, not the car, decides how fast the car charges.

Though it's technically not a charger, it's really just a box that can tell the car how much power it can draw and a relay/contactor to turn on the power when requested, of course they generally have some telementry equipment inside as well and some other smarts for controlled charging and the "granny" chargers generally have a temperature sensor in the mains plug so the charging current can be reduced if the plug gets too hot.

Only the DC fast chargers have the charger integrated.