Transporting Solar Road Panels

Union Pacific Locomotive

Using the hydroelectric power in our area, we can make our Solar Road Panels with very little carbon footprint. But how do we now transport these panels to where they're needed using as little fuel as possible?

The Solar Road Panels are large and heavy, but they do produce power when exposed to the sun. One railroad company visited our electronics lab and saw the Solar Road Panel prototype. We discussed methods of transporting it by rail (we intend to build our manufacturing facilities with rail access).

Diesel-electric locomotives are the standard today: they have diesel engines to turn generators, which produce electricity to actually propel the train. In essence, it's an electric train that generates its own electricity with diesel fuel.

But what if the cargo could produce the electricity instead? We are considering the possibility of making rail cars that would allow us to stack our Solar Road Panels in such a way that they were exposed to the sun: facing outward on both sides and upward on top of the rail cars. No matter which direction the train was traveling, its cargo would be producing electricity.

For the first time since the age-old coal car, a train could have cars that fuel the locomotive and offset (or create entirely?) the energy used to get the cargo to its intended location.