[SunTzuWu]

...and when you apply it, it has torque right f’in now.

So does electricity. That's why it's used for the drive wheels of locomotives.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I don’t fully agree with that. Electric motor and coil applications have hysteresis.. as some have suggested, that might actually be beneficial (vs steam) in the case of an aircraft carrier catapult. I could see that.

In trains, the reaction time of the motors is not only not that important, but each axle or truck can be powered with a smaller, individual motor/geartrain that is much easier to reverse and speed-control than with a bell-crank or *any* mechanical arrangement, and the same motors can generate dynamic braking. They are also dozens of times easier to maintain.

[reg45]

And why electric cars accelerate so well