“It’s hugely exciting to see electric trucks on the roads”. Siemens says the system features an intelligent pantograph partnered with a hybrid drive system. Engadget quotes Scania official Claes Erixon as saying the project is “one important milestone on the journey towards fossil-free transport”, while CleanTech Canada quoted Anders Berndtsson, chief strategist at the Swedish Transport Administration (STA), as saying, “Electric roads offer this possibility and are an excellent complement to the transport system”.
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The test will be conducted on parts of road E16, and involves a current collector on the roof of the truck cab feeding the current down to a hybrid electric motor in the truck, according to a press release from the country’s transport administration Trafikverket, Xinhua reported. Some public transit authorities around the world use similar systems on networks of buses and regional railways. Sweden is committed to making their transportation system fossil-fuel free by 2030. The pantographs are in turn connected to overhead power lines that are above the right-hand lane of the road, and the trucks can freely connect to and disconnect from the overhead wires while in motion. Siemens claims that using the electric highway doubles fuel efficiency over standard combustion engines.
“By far the greatest part of the goods transported in Sweden goes on the road, but only a limited part of the goods can be moved to other traffic types”.
Nils-Gunnar Vågstedt, who is responsible for Scania’s research into electrification, adds, “The potential fuel savings through electrification are considerable and the technology can become a cornerstone for fossil-free road transport services”.
Contracted by the SFA and installed northwest of Stockholm, the overhead wire system functions similarly to the catenaries that power electric rail lines around the world.
When the trucks, provided by Scania, are not on the electric stretch of road, they will operate as hybrid vehicles running on biofuel. They’ll revert back to using diesel once off the power grid.
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The eHighway is part of a two-year trial in Sweden, and Siemens is also building a trial eHighway in California in partnership with Volvo. A 1-mile stretch of power lines on a highway near the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles is now under construction.
