What is Diesel-electric?
A '''diesel-electric''' [[engine]] is a [[diesel generator]], a [[diesel engine]] that drives an electric [[generator]]. The generator feeds [[electric power]] to an [[electric motor]] which turns a [[driveshaft]]. Its [[Energy efficiency|efficiency]] is higher than when an engine drives a shaft through [[gear]]s. Most [[locomotive]]s and many [[ship]]s use diesel-electric drive. Many diesel-electric drives, especially small ones, store the electricity in a [[battery]]. Some designs also store [[braking energy]] in a [[flywheel]], which can also charge a battery. However, these add even more [[complexity]] and weight to the [[vehicle]], so are more appropriate for [[city driving]] where [[service station]]s are always available and there is much [[stop and go driving]]. Because they do not require any change or [[investment]] in stations nor much in [[vehicle design]], diesel-electric vehicles are believed to be the most likely replacement for today's [[internal combustion engine]]. When properly tuned, they have low [[toxic|emission]]s and they use only about one-third of the [[fossil fuel]] of most [[gasoline]] engines powering similar vehicles. [[Honda]] and [[Toyota]] are presently delivering consumer priced diesel-electric cars. By contrast, [[hydrogen infrastructure]] is thought to be decades off, and is not fully implemented even in [[Iceland]] where there is abundant free [[geothermal electricity]]. In countries like [[India]], government is focusing on fully electric trains rather than diesel electric. That too electricity will be produced by renewable sources like [[Solar]]. Many [[activist]]s feel that promoting [[hydrogen]] is a stall, a way to avoid forcing the shift to diesel-electric vehicles in the nearer term. {{Transport-stub}} [[Category:Motors]]