Siemens now has a test facility in California to demonstrate its eHighway system for electric trucks. A one-mile stretch of Interstate 710 connecting two seaports – Los Angeles and Long Beach – with railway hubs is being built out as a zero-emissions corridor for transferring freight. Siemens is partnering with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), Volvo trucks and local truck retrofitters on the pilot project to use e-trucks powered by overhead contact lines for the transfers. The demonstration will use three trucks outfitted for the overhead catenary system running in select lanes of the highway. The California project is in the planning stage but Siemens has demonstrated it at a test facility in Germany and a newly opened eHighway in Sweden.
“This project will help us evaluate the feasibility of a zero-emission cargo movement system using overhead catenary wires,” said Wayne Nastri, SCAQMD’s executive officer in the Siemens release. “This demonstration could lead to the deployment of eHighway systems that will reduce pollution and benefit public health for residents living near the ports.”
The demonstration system, similar to trolley systems or streetcars, features an overhead contact line that makes power available to trucks along the road and an active pantograph located on top of the eHighway trucks that transfers energy from the overhead lines to the truck’s electric motors. The pantograph can connect and disconnect automatically with the contact line via a sensor system while the trucks are moving giving them the same flexibility as conventional diesel trucks.
Here’s the Siemens release (PDF): Siemens demonstrates first eHighway system in the U.S.