电源

电动轨道车辆可以从不同类型的来源接收电力。一个例子是电动汽车，它通过称为受电弓的连接从架空电线汲取电流。另一个例子是由车载电池供电的。最后，还有柴油电动汽车，配备内燃机（所谓的“发动机”），可在机车上产生电流。虽然它们的视觉和听觉存在可能彼此截然不同，但电动和柴油电动汽车都使用牵引电机进行推进，由电力驱动。

• Wire-Electric - Drawing electricity from overhead wires , with a pantograph connection.
• Battery-Electric - Drawing electricity from onboard rechargeable batteries.
• Diesel-Electric - Generating electricity onboard, with an internal combustion engine .

While their visual and auditory presence may be vastly different from one another, all these types of vehicles use similar drivetrains for propulsion, that is electric-powered traction motors .