Great Western Coffee Shop

Can't see it catching on in narrow, historically sensitive streets.

Was there any mention of the voltage?

Wonder if you can fit regen brakes?

Surely that's not the idea? I think it's aimed at motorways, as part of a "what do we do if there's no oil left" plan B.

What is neat is to make use of in-road (presumably) guidance to keep the truck under the wires, so you no longer need to hook a "trolley" onto a wire.  A modest supercapacitor/battery allows you to change lanes or park. You could also make the supply three phase, if you wanted (e.g. you are Swiss).

Of course one of the advantages of rail electrification is the weight reduction from not having to carry self-power equipment (a benifit which is thrown away by the likes of the class 800/801) and hence a reduction in the amount of energy needed to shift the thing.

Not only is the current demo system a hybrid, but there is no visible plan to drop the diesel engine. I think the reason is obvious - you will need it until the wires cover the great majority of point-point truck runs. That could be a very long wait...

The choice of 650V DC is, I would guess, to avoid excess weight in transformers etc.

Siemens has been commissioned by the German state of Hesse to build an overhead contact line for electrified freight transport on a ten-kilometer stretch of autobahn. The line will supply electricity for the electric drive of a hybrid truck. Siemens originally presented its innovative "eHighway" concept in 2012. The system will be installed on the A5 federal autobahn between the Zeppelinheim/Cargo City Süd interchange at the Frankfurt Airport and the Darmstadt/Weiterstadt interchange.

(https://www.energylivenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/electric-truck_.jpg)

The world’s first road able to directly charge electric vehicles (EVs) has officially opened in Sweden.

Around 1.2 miles of electric rail has been embedded in a public road near Stockholm – it aims to solve the problem of having to keep electric vehicles charged up and is expected to enable EVs to use smaller batteries, reducing costs.

It works by using a movable arm attached to the bottom of a vehicle to receive energy from two tracks of rail in the road, much like a Scalextric track.

The infrastructure costs around €1 million (£860,000) per kilometre and calculates vehicles’ energy consumption, enabling electricity costs to be debited per vehicle and user.

Both current vehicles and roadways could be adapted to take advantage of the technology.

Hans Säll, CEO of the eRoadArlanda consortium behind the project, said: “If we electrify 20,000 kilometres of highways that will definitely be enough.

“The distance between two highways is never more than 45 kilometres and electric cars can already travel that distance without needing to be recharged. Some believe it would be enough to electrify 5,000 kilometres.”

There is no comment on the voltage or overall power draw.  I imagine the voltage will be fairly low for safety reasons - even on a motorway there can be pedestrians and animals; and I hate to think of the required current if there is a convoy of HGVs.

On the other hand real life Scalextrix with racing trucks would be a blast,

I understand that the power rail voltage is 750V, but the rail is built in short sections that are electrified only when a vehicle is passing, greatly reducing the risk to other road users.

It is an Alstom system based on a similar system already used for trams.
http://itsworldcongress2017.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Duprat.pdf


I also found this useful review which discusses different electric road technologies.
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1046753/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Green light for path to UK’s first ‘electric motorway’
27 July 2021

• Through Innovate UK, the Department for Transport has commissioned a Costain led consortium to assess the economic and technical potential of the UK’s first ‘eHighway’

• The study is part of the UK government’s plan to reach zero net emissions for heavy road freight

• It aims to demonstrate the technology is ready for a national roll-out

The Department for Transport has awarded funding through Innovate UK to a consortium to lead the UK’s first ever study on the electrification of long-range trucks with dynamic charging, using overhead wires on motorways.   

The study is part of the £20m put aside for zero emission road freight trials under the recently announced Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP) and was awarded based on the Costain led consortium expertise in sustainable transport. It includes Siemens Mobility, Scania, The Centre for Sustainable Road Freight (Cambridge University and Heriot-Watt University), ARUP, Milne Research, SPL Powerlines, CI Planning, BOX ENERGI and Possible.
...
The consortium has proposed an ‘electric road system’, using the Siemens Mobility ‘eHighway’ technology, as the fastest, lowest carbon and most cost-effective route to decarbonising our road freight industry and delivering cleaner air. The nine-month study kicks off this month and is hoped to be the forerunner of a scheme that aims to see the UK’s major roads served by overhead lines by the 2030s. These eHighways allow specially adapted trucks to attach to the overhead wires and run using the electricity, like rail and trolley-bus systems. The trucks come equipped with a battery that charges while they are in motion so they can detach to both overtake vehicles and reach their destination with zero emissions from start to finish. 

Consortium members Siemens Mobility, Scania and SPL have previously trialled smaller electric road systems in Germany and Sweden, with this UK initiative being the first in the world to investigate deploying it at a much larger scale. The project will look at electrifying at least 30km (19 miles) of the M180 as the pilot, linking Immingham Port with the logistics hubs of Doncaster and its airport. The partners plan to take the lessons learned from Europe, and provide technical, economic, and environmental recommendations for installing a proof-of-concept system with a bigger demonstration fleet. 

A fully operational electric road system across the UK would be expected to create tens of thousands of jobs across a range of green industries, with around 200,000 new electric trucks needing to be built over a 10–15-year period. This will also provide an opportunity to completely revamp the UK truck manufacturing industry and its supply chains, futureproofing it by accelerating fleet digitalisation; a key lesson learned across the industry as it recovers from the 2020 pandemic’s disruption. 

Research by the consortium has even found that initial investments into new vehicles by operators could be recouped within 18 months, due to lower energy costs, and the electrification infrastructure would pay back investors in 15 years. ...

I am impressed  :)

Although this is a small scale trial, it is an actual installation on an actual public road that remains in use.
A considerable step forward if compared to trials on a dedicated test route, and an even greater step forward over simulations and paper studies.

If this is extended to the UK along the same principles, (motorways only), it will miss many of our key freight road haulage routes to and from ports which governments have failed to upgrade to motorway status for decades - the A12, A34 and A14 all immediately come to mind.

If this is extended to the UK along the same principles, (motorways only), it will miss many of our key freight road haulage routes to and from ports which governments have failed to upgrade to motorway status for decades - the A12, A34 and A14 all immediately come to mind.

The A roads mentioned do not have motorway status but they do have near-motorway standards. In many countries they would be designated "express roads" or something similar.