Climate change has been an issue nowadays due to its impacts on humanity. Public transportation contributes 24% of global emissions, In Europe, 80% to 90% of long-haul trucking takes place on highways, therefore many countries, including Germany, try to regulate and limit the emission that is produced by public transportation by testing electric highway. An eHighway solution enables unlimited operational range within the infrastructure.
German testing overhead electrification on Autobahn called eHighway. The highway fitted with overhead electric wires that can charge electric trucks on the move. It works like locomotives, where there is a connector on the top of the truck that connected to the power lines to supply electricity to the trucks. The pantograph collector, which is placed on the roof, receives the positive and negative electrical circuits from the cables overhead.
Siemens claims that over 100,000 kilometers, a vehicle owner may save €20,000 on fuel. As Siemens wants to achieve carbon neutrality in Europe by 2045 and a 65% reduction in emissions in Germany by 2030, it is critical to look at policies that will contribute to reduce emissions in the transportation sector significantly which is relevant to 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Read also : Europe Becoming The Fastest Warming Continent, Warning From WMO and Copernicus
In the development and production of pantographs for trucks, Siemens Mobility is cooperating with Continental Engineering Services. Siemens Mobility focuses on railway electrification and supplying the gear for these tests and modifying equipment that has long been used to power trains and city street cars. Meanwhile, Continental Engineering Services specializes in development and production providers for automotive technologies. The overhead cables are predicted to cost 2.5 million Euros per km, or around $5 million per mile, and are expected to be built by the German government.
