A tesla model 3 is 250 wh/mile. so 56 cars energy = 1 trains energy.
The train has steel wheels (far lower rolling resistance) and a far more aerodynamic shape... But also has the downside of far more weight, probably less efficient motors and power electronics, limited regen ability, and faster speed (air losses are the third power of speed)
And an average tesla does not have 5 ppl in it, from what I can see its more like 1.5, whereas you typical train seems to be 60% full (personal experience).
Each TGV seats 500-700 people, about 100 to 500 times better than you RR average model 3. And goes a lot faster. I'd be curious to know the M3's mileage above 300 kph.
I thought regenerative braking was a strong point of trains? The motor is probably of comparable efficiency, I expect power electronics to be worse, indeed.
The train is capable of regen braking... But frequently the infrastructure is not. A train braking can be many megawatts of power, something that can't be dumped on the electricity grid of a small town without a bit of planning in advance.
So, where capacity to dump the power can't be certain, regen braking isn't done, or is at least limited.
This sounds like a great application for supercapacitors. Regen charge the caps when braking to enter a station, and use that energy to accelerate back out of the station
So let’s say 14kWh/km (or about 8 times the recommended food energy per day for an average person, per mile).