Joe Biden has taken us down a rabbit hole

So, as you can easily see, battery-powered electrification of rail transport will make wonderful sense when batteries become cheap enough to reduce the costs to or below current diesel-electric economics, and that will happen if innovations substantially reduce the cost of batteries per kWh of capacity.

At that point, executives and investors will want to electrify rail transport, and it will not need to depend on government mandates or subsidies.

(Which is as it should be!) Originally Posted by Texas Contrarian

An expert quoted in one of my links said only 15% to 30% of the U.S. railway system was amenable to electrification. Presumably with battery powered locomotives, 100% would be. With batteries I guess the only significant cost to modify the system would be replacing the locomotives. Perhaps that day will come. Until then, California politicians and regulators can't wave their magic wand and make it happen.

A couple of notes on the history of "energy transitions."

https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-e...eats-mandates/

In my view, such transitions should be driven by sound economics, not mandates and subsidies. If battery costs continue to come down as much as a few investment banks and a number of analysts believe, EVs will be attractive to tens of millions of Americans within 10-15 years, and the appeal will be based on sound economics and practical considerations.

Meanwhile, it looks like even the tiny states don't want to cede a monopoly on harebrained ideas to California.

Check this:

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/...in-the-country

Well, that is Bernie's state, after all -- so maybe we shouldn't really be surprised!