A:  It depends on how big and heavy the vehicles (trains) are that must be lifted, and how fast they need to be lifted. That depends on how many people will need to ride per hour. The motors might be anywhere from about 20 horsepower to 200 horsepower on a roller coaster.

Q:  How much energy does each ride take to run?

  A:  Lets suppose that a 150 horsepower motor is needed to lift the train on the roller coaster that you are building. To figure that out in watts multiply by 746. That is 111,900 watts, which is 111.9 kilowatts. To get the energy, we have to figure out how long we need that power. If it takes 1 minute to lift the train to the top of the hill, that is 1/60th of an hour. So, 111.9 / 60 gives 1.87 kilowatt-hours of energy. There is your answer: in this example, it takes 1.87 kilowatt-hours to lift a train to the top of the first hill. After that, the ride is free!  An ordinary 60 watt light bulb would have to burn for about 31 hours to use that much energy, but that much energy only costs about 10 cents! Compared to what it costs to maintain the ride, the energy is probably not a big expense.

Q:  What is the maximum amount of energy it takes?

A:  Like the size of the motor, that depends on lots of things.