On a roll
© Delsbo Electric
December 2020

On a roll

By Volker Paulun
Friction is a decelerator. Who’d be in a better position to know this than bearing specialist Schaeffler? Weight and aerodynamic drag hamper the urge of moving forward as well.

The designers of the Eximus IV rail vehicle tweaked its project in many areas to propel it with maximum ease and efficiency. The outcome is more than amazing: while the first Eximus version in 2016 still required 0.84 watt hours of electrical energy to haul one passenger across a one-kilometer (0.62-mile) distance, the current Eximus IV needed merely 0.517 watt hours – a new efficiency world record. How little this is becomes evident, not least, when converting “gasoline” as a value: with the energy content of one gallon the Eximus IV, in mathematical terms, would be “on a roll” for more than 60,000 kilometers (37,500 miles).

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe

Abraham Lincoln

Consumption comparison
Gasoline equivalent in liters per person/100 km
(at average capacity utilization)

On a roll
Source: Umweltbundesamt (UBA) (German Federal Environmental Agency)