Daphna Langer has a bold ambition: To decarbonize the rail industry in less than a decade.

How? By convincing U.S. freight railroad companies to switch from diesel power to rechargeable batteries — part of a business model Langer estimates could make her company, Voltify, as much as $10 billion a year.

The rail industry needs to reduce its emissions by 5% a year by 2030 to reach net-zero goals, according to a 2023 report by the International Energy Agency . In addition, switching to battery electricity would save U.S. rail freight companies $94 billion over 20 years, according to a 2021 study published in the journal Nature Energy .

Voltify's VoltCars — essentially sodium-ion batteries on wheels — are designed to connect to existing freight locomotives.

Convincing the $80-billion

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