Argentina’s solar train brings zero-emission travel to an ancient trade route

In Argentina's Jujuy province, a solar-powered passenger train just marked two years of service on a 42 km (about 26 mile) route through the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a canyon recognized by UNESCO as a historic trade corridor. The Tren Solar de la Quebrada runs on a 352 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, with regenerative braking (the train recovers energy while slowing down) giving it enough range to cover the roughly 52-mile round trip on one charge. Six stations along the line have EV-style chargers, all powered by a dedicated 6 megawatt solar farm with battery storage backing it up, so the whole operation runs without fuel or emissions.

This is a story about public transit, not home energy equipment, so there's nothing here that changes what a homeowner might install or apply for. It's worth knowing about mainly as a sign of how far battery and solar technology has come outside the electric vehicle and home-solar world most readers are used to hearing about.

Since its official launch, the train has carried 90,000 passengers, and about a third of those rode through a social program meant to make the train accessible to local communities. The current route runs between the towns of Volcán and Tilcara. Plans exist to extend it north toward Humahuaca and eventually to La Quiaca near the Bolivian border, though no timeline for that expansion has been set.