The torque characteristics of electric motive propulsion far greater than diesel is. Ask the RR's.
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The irony there is they are diesel electric motors. I agree and love the advantages of the electric motor propulsion (to John's point above, I fell in love after driving a Tesla Model X P100D, going 0-60 in under 3 seconds in an SUV), but we need a breakthrough in battery technology before I think they'll break out of their niche. More storage capacity, lighter weight, faster charging, etc. Preferably while using less rare-earth metals. The current incremental gains will make it hard to scale.
Diesel generates the electricity, the electricity is the total propulsion/motive power. It doesn't matter where, or how the electricity is derived. Years ago, prior to having heavy, large, high power Diesel/Electric locomotives, many RR's who had gone away from the Super HeavyHP/HP steam locomotives, used "Electric" Locomotives to move heavy tonnage trains thru the mountain routes they incurred. The Penn. RR ran many "all Electric" locomotives. The Milw. RR ran "all Electric" loco's in their Rocky Mountains area of their route. High capacity, ultra high efficiency was the reason for doing so.
