First Electric Highway Opens in Sweden
Siemens AG, based in Germany, opened the world’s first eHighway on June 22 in Sweden, which will use overhead catenary wires to power diesel trucks as a green alternative to traditional diesel fuel.
“The Siemens eHighway is twice as efficient as conventional internal combustion engines. The Siemens innovation supplies trucks with power from an overhead contact line. This means that not only is energy consumption cut by half, but local air pollution is reduced, too,” Roland Edel, chief engineer at the Siemens Mobility Division, said in a statement.
For the next two years, two diesel trucks will test the 2-kilometer stretch, or 1.25 miles, north of Stockholm. Scania AB, based in Sweden, manufactured the two hybrid diesels and adapted them to operate under the catenary system. The heavy-duty trucks are retrofitted with sensors that automatically connect or disconnect to the wires using an adaptive pantograph, a device that can extend or retract, at speeds up to 55 mph, according to the company.
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Lawmakers in Sweden have proposed measures to ban gasoline vehicles by 2030, to lower fossil fuel and carbon dioxide emissions.
Siemens is developing another eHighway demonstration project in California with Mack Trucks and the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Tests will be conducted through 2017 to see how different truck configurations interact with the eHighway infrastructure near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California.
