For the locomotive, Li Qingsong initially considered making it steam-powered. After all, this thing is simple and crude, and I have enough technical accumulation. But after much thought, Li Qingsong finally abandoned this plan and decided to build an electric locomotive in one go. The reason is simple. The electrified locomotive has greater carrying capacity, higher efficiency and can also be faster. Compared with the steam engine head, it has many advantages. But this is not the only reason why Li Qingsong decided to launch the electric locomotive. Another reason is that since various minerals need to be transported on a large scale in the future, not only the consumption end but also the production end needs to be scaled. It would be absolutely impossible to collect minerals by manual labor like before, and even the clones would be unable to do it even if they worked themselves to death. Various mining machines must be put into use to mine enough minerals. This means that a large amount of machinery and electricity are also needed at the No. 1 Iron Mine, Oxygen Mine, and Tolin Mine.
So, should we build power plants there? This plan was rejected by Li Qingsong. At this stage, instead of building more small power plants, it is better to focus on building a large power plant and then supply power to various bases. Therefore, it was inevitable to build the railway line. And since the railway line was built, the problem of train energy supply was solved incidentally. The second reason is that Li Qingsong’s plan for the future is large-scale mechanization. Only mechanization can truly promote the development of science and technology. If we rely on manual labor, at best we can only be a manual workshop. The mechanization of the Earth Age is achieved by relying on coal and oil. But there are no fossil energy sources on Roselle. The only way to achieve mechanization is to skip the fossil energy era and enter the electrical era directly. And, since it has been decided that electrification will be used to achieve large-scale mechanization in the future, and electrified locomotives have so many advantages at this stage, why not use it? In addition, there is another more important factor, which is extremely favorable to electrification. This factor is something that humans in the Earth era have always dreamed of. Superconductivity. Because of the extremely low temperature on Luoshen, there is a natural superconducting environment without the need for special creation. Li Qingsong only needs to work a little harder on the cable materials to manufacture superconducting lines on a large scale and achieve lossless transmission of power grid electricity. This way, efficiency will be higher. After considering various reasons, Li Qingsong finally made this decision. In Machinery Factory No. 1, more than twenty clones were constantly making parts by hand, assembling them by hand, and conducting continuous testing. They are working on how to make an electrified locomotive. During this process, their brains were working at high speed, constantly combining with the actual situation, constantly trial and error, and trying, so pieces of knowledge were generated in their brains and became the knowledge belonging to Li Qingsong.
The knowledge from different sources converged in Li Qingsong's brain, was integrated in his mind, and then fed back to each clone in real time. The twenty or so clones were silent, without any communication with each other. However, the knowledge points summarized by one clone through experiments, such as certain connectors cannot be treated with acid, otherwise they will be insufficient in strength, will be immediately synchronized in the minds of all clones. No communication or telling is needed, all other clones will avoid this mistake when handling such parts. If another clone makes a different discovery, it will be immediately synchronized to the minds of the other clones. The progress of each clone will lead to the progress of the whole. Under such circumstances, the manufacture of the electric loom was extremely smooth. After all, Li Qingsong's requirements were not high at the moment, and it did not need to be so intelligent or have high performance. When the track was halfway laid, the first experimental locomotive was completed. Li Qingsong maneuvered it onto the rails, carefully used the pantograph to connect the cables, and pressed the button. In an instant, the surging electric energy began to drive the electric motor and dispersed the power to the wheels. Amid the friction with the rails, a long train with 30 carriages, fully loaded with 3,000 tons of cargo and a total length of more than 600 meters began to move forward. The speed was slow at first, but soon it increased, even reaching a maximum of 40 kilometers per hour. Faster than the top speed of an unloaded tractor! "good." Li Qingsong was filled with relief. Now, with the electrified locomotive, not only has the problem of cargo transportation been solved, but it has also paved the way for us to leap into the electrical age. I can even build the electric locomotive for heavy-duty trains, and some crushers, mine cars, ore dressing machines, excavators, bulldozers and the like that use electricity. Is there any problem? There is indeed a problem. Some fixed equipment, such as crushers, ore dressing machines, etc., can be directly connected to the circuit, which is no problem. But some movable machines, such as mine cars, trucks, bulldozers, etc., cannot be directly connected to the lines. But it doesn't matter. Li Qingsong already had a solution. If you can’t connect the line, then use a battery! Simple lead-acid batteries actually do not require any technical content and can be manufactured even with Li Qingsong's existing technology. Compared to the Earth, the only difference is that the energy density is slightly lower, the weight is slightly heavier, the safety is slightly lower, and the charging rate is slightly slower. But it doesn’t matter, it’s still the same old saying, as long as it works, it’s fine. There is another more important point. In the Earth Age, for the sake of environmental protection, many toxic and harmful additives that can improve battery performance cannot be added. For example, metallic cadmium. But here on Luoshen Star, Li Qingsong doesn't care about that. Improve performance? Just add it.
After doing this recklessly, Li Qingsong discovered that the first battery he produced almost by hand-customization in the laboratory had an overall performance that was about half of that of the batteries in the Earth era. You know, Li Qingsong's overall technology is far inferior to that of Earth. But even in this case, the performance can still reach half! This surprised Li Qingsong greatly. "We will make a batch by hand now and use them as a makeshift. When the steel plant is fully operational, the battery factory will also have to make a professional one." Li Qingsong made up his mind. The work of building the railway is still going on in full swing. As of now, another year has passed and more than 80% of the railway construction has been completed. There would not be a need for so much manpower in the future, so Li Qingsong mobilized a total of 600 clones, including the 400 new clones that were born this year, and sent them to three mining sites. He wants to build three branch bases!