“We're not looking to replace freight trains. That's a very common misunderstanding. We're looking to give railroads the tools to attract and convert more of the trucking activity to rail, ,” said Soule in an interview. “Our inspiration is rail is very energy efficient and an overlooked lever in terms of this push worldwide to decarbonize is not just take the existing paradigm make it electric, but actually use less energy because at the end of the day our grid is not clean.
They don't actually couple, as do traditional train cars, but rather move close to each other and then initiate contact through bumpers. Once they make contact, each vehicle maintains a set force with the one in front by regulating tractive effort. The small air gap and pushing action through rail car bumpers reduces overall aerodynamic drag of the platoon, improving energy efficiency.... [+]Soule likens it to someone being helped walk up a hill by having another person pushing from behind.
Converting 100,000 trucking miles to Parallel’s rail zero-emissions vehicles would eliminate up to 175 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, Soule maintained. Indeed, Soule explains the combined technology and design make Parallel's automated rail cars safer than a freight train when it comes to stopping distance.