Germany Trials Overhead Wires On Highways To Charge Hybrid Trucks

Germany is testing a new highway that employs electrified overhead cabling to recharge the batteries in hybrid cars as they are on the road, claims the media report. The Siemens-designed eHighway is developed to operate with a tailored Scania hybrid truck designed by VW Group. The pilot of the technology by Germany is presently functional on a 6-mile stretch of autobahn close to Frankfurt and is claimed to operate until 2022, after which it can be extended more broadly all over the nation.

The eHighway operates by giving 670 Volts of DC power to conductor rods or “pantographs” of the truck. The system only operates at speeds of not more than 56 Mph, but while in employment it means that the hybrid vehicle can operate completely on its electric motor while at the same time charging its battery. At the end of the electrified section of road the vehicle can carry on to take power from its batteries, shifting to its diesel engine when they are fully exhausted.

This is not the first time we have witnessed a firm try to vigorously charge an electric car while it is being on the road. The eHighway tech by Siemens has already been tested and demonstrated in California and Sweden respectively and Sweden has also set up underground rails on one streets that can recharge vehicles.

On a related note, Penske Truck Leasing earlier at four plants in Southern California started 14 DC fast charging stations. As per the firm, they are the first high-paced charging stations particularly developed for commercial, heavy duty electric cars in the US. And they will be employed to charge hybrid trucks, such as the Daimler Freightliners that the firm has been trialing.

For the most part, electric car discussions focus around passenger vehicles, but firms such as Daimler, Tesla, and Cummins are operating to electrify bigger trucks, such as big rigs.