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Nuke writes:

A Californian company proposes to use weighted electrically driven rail vehicles, on inclines, to store energy. At times when the capacity of electricity supply exceeds demand the vehicles would be driven up inclined tracks, and when demand exceeds generation they are allowed to run down, re-generating electricity as they go.

The link [bbc.co.uk] includes a video that shows a prototype vehicle (which appears to be built on a conventional loco chassis), an interview with a promotor, and an animation of a "farm" of these devices. There is a shortage of hard data, such as how much energy could be stored, how long and how steep the tracks are etc, but a quick calculation shows that some thousands of these vehicles would be required to be useful. The control panel for this prototype has a power dial that appears to go up to only 20 Kw. The promotor in the interview focuses instead on how the construction material can be recycled at end of life.

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