There was a post recently mentioning Electric 18-wheeker type trucks. I ask why we don’t see heavy equipment that employees Diesel/Electric motors like Locomotives do on the railroads. I guess there is much I don’t understand about this, but it seems to me that D/E would work.
Was at a rr museum a while back. Weekday. No one there except .e, wife and caretaker. Showed us the big machines. The locomotives do use electric tric .motors for the drive as it is smoother power without clutch. However they have the largest mf diesel motor to generate the electricity for the drive motors.
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/automobiles/autoreviews/24DOZER.html
Before 2009, in fact, Cat did not use the h-word...
Power to spare: First Cat hybrid tugs arrive in Lake Charles
The main engines stayed silent as the tugboat climbed to 8 knots against a 3-foot swell.
Down in the engine room, a single Caterpillar C18 engine provided electric power for motors mounted aft of the z-drives...
The losses into conversion is not worth it in an OTR truck.
With a locomotive it would be tough on a an engine powered direct transmission. The locomotive benefits in the reduced weight and maintenance
Letourneau has been doing it for years. The sawmill I worked at in the 70s unloaded whole truckload of logs 8n one bite.