2025-01-01 VDE dialog

Overhead lines for trucks: “Do not relinquish technological leadership lightly”

The eHighway Schleswig-Holstein field test will finish at the end of 2024. The project manager responsible for the test route, Jan Bachmann from the Research and Development Center at Kiel University of Applied Sciences, paints a positive picture of the results.

Project manager Jan Bachmann

| FuE-Zentrum FH Kiel GmbH

Your project has spent several years testing overhead line technology for trucks on the eHighway in Schleswig Holstein. Was it a success, and would you recommend a nationwide expansion?

Bachmann: Yes, our assessment is that the system can be applied on a large scale. We did not find anything in the field test to suggest the technology should not be used. On the contrary, apart from a few teething troubles, overhead line technology is already a robust and operational system that is very well suited to achieving rapid decarbonization of road freight transport.

In your opinion, what are the concrete advantages?

It is an available technology with high efficiency that enables carbon-neutral transportation of heavy commercial vehicles using 100 percent renewable energy. The ecological footprint of constructing the overhead line infrastructure is very low if it is used in an economically viable way. Overall, according to Fraunhofer ISI, the overhead line system has the best environmental footprint when it comes to all-electric vehicles, partly because it allows the vehicles to use smaller batteries. Vehicles can charge while driving, so the overhead line also avoids disruption to logistical processes – for example from vehicles being forced to stop for charging or missing their charging slot. And fewer stationary charging points would have to be built, which would reduce space problems at service stations and rest areas, among other things.

But the overhead lines would have to be built for this...

Yes, but the space required on the road is small, there is no interference with the road structure and the impact on the public power grid is manageable. Standards and efficient supply chains exist for the components, and construction could be implemented quickly due to the low dependencies and low resource requirements (space, grid reserves, etc.).

Instead, the overhead lines used for the field testing will now probably be dismantled. Do you think it would have been worth continuing the experiment?

In our opinion, there are good reasons for continuing to operate and even expanding the test routes. To further improve eHighway technology and develop complementary solutions, it would be more than helpful to continue the field testing. After all, there is currently no convincing solution for the decarbonization of heavy goods transport. To be able to make decisions on the basis of reliable data, we believe that further independent evaluations are essential: in particular, a direct comparison of the technology with the few realistic alternatives, i.e. BEVs (editor’s note: Battery Electric Vehicles) that use stationary charging points and possibly also fuel cell vehicles. We should also bear in mind when making our decision that interest in the technology is growing both abroad and in the business world, and that phasing out the trials sends out the wrong signals. China in particular is already active with its own developments. Up to this point – and using taxpayers’ money – we have built up a technological leadership in the field of overhead lines, which we are about to simply give away.

However, the project seems to have been written off by politicians and the public. What will happen now?

The ministry funding the field tests, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, has announced that, with the Climate Transformation Fund coming to an end, it will not provide further funding for this or any other overhead line projects. It is not clear what will happen next. For the routes in Schleswig-Holstein and Hesse, there has not yet been a decision on further use. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, which is now responsible, has announced an evaluation.