The development of fully electric vehicles is currently in great expansion. To ensure a long range, especially of transport vehicles, new solutions are being sought, such as overhead power cables. Testing of this way of powering electric trucks is done in Lubeck, Germany.
Cables, ie wires, are located above the highway. Trucks make contact by lifting the connectors, which power the engine. Testing has been going on for almost two years and will continue in 2022.
Certainly, the construction of such a voltage network is not a cheap project. David Cebon, a professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cambridge, believes the project could be funded by charging electricity to system users at affordable prices.
Since the connectors will only touch the wires, trucks will be able to use an electric or diesel engine in situations where they have to change lanes or leave the highway. The network should be available on 30 percent of German highways, which would reduce truck emissions by two-thirds.
This system would only be used by trucks using highways, while the rest of the transport would be done by battery-powered trucks, such as the Mercedes eActros.
