4 ms·

Have there been any previous projects like this? Seems like it'd be tough to make it worthwhile (for the drivers and the citizenry paying for the maintenance).

Have there been any previous projects like this? Seems like it'd be tough to make it worthwhile (for the drivers and the citizenry paying for the maintenance). Would love to see some back-of-the-envelope math, though.

Archelaos 3y ago
Depends on what counts as "like this". The electrified truck fed by an overhead line is more than a century old.[1] Add a battery to it and you can charge it from the overhead lines while driving. Several experimental modern test tracks have been installed by Siemens as part of its eHighway project in Sweden (since 2016) and Germany (since 2017).[2] And there are alread multiple battery electric railcars in operation that can charge from the overhead wire.[3] [1] See for example this 1903 electrified truck from St Petersburg: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberleitungslastkraftwagen#/media/Datei:Edea0de075117.jpg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberleitungslastkraftwagen#/me... [2] Here is a somewhat dated Web-page that describes the essentials: https://press.siemens.com/global/en/feature/ehighway-solutions-electrified-road-freight-transport https://press.siemens.com/global/en/feature/ehighway-solutio... [3] The Wikipedia article on "Battery electric multiple unit" has a lot of examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_electric_multiple_unit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_electric_multiple_unit
- throwaway_5753 3y ago
  Cool! I did not know about the electrified truck experiments. I have lived in cities with electrified buses that pulled from overhead lines; those worked well for local routes. I wonder: * How much highway speed complicates things * How much the hardware costs for individual passenger vehicles Regardless, it would be nice to pull from the grid along the main routes; seems like an elegant solution to the range issue with electric vehicles.
  - Archelaos 3y ago
    The main issue seems to be the cost of the power lines. According to some news articles, the cost for the test tracks was about 3 million euros per km. Cost estimates for the future assume 1 million euros per km if lines are installed on a large scale. I couldn't find anything about the opperational costs. But what I observe is that more and more test tracks open up in Germany. It seems that German industry and government see a realistic chance for this technology. Of course, this does not provide any certainty, which was demonstrated at the time with the Transrapid.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transrapid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transrapid

Archelaos 3y ago

Depends on what counts as "like this". The electrified truck fed by an overhead line is more than a century old.[1] Add a battery to it and you can charge it from the overhead lines while driving. Several experimental modern test tracks have been installed by Siemens as part of its eHighway project in Sweden (since 2016) and Germany (since 2017).[2] And there are alread multiple battery electric railcars in operation that can charge from the overhead wire.[3] [1] See for example this 1903 electrified truck from St Petersburg: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberleitungslastkraftwagen#/media/Datei:Edea0de075117.jpg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberleitungslastkraftwagen#/me... [2] Here is a somewhat dated Web-page that describes the essentials: https://press.siemens.com/global/en/feature/ehighway-solutions-electrified-road-freight-transport https://press.siemens.com/global/en/feature/ehighway-solutio... [3] The Wikipedia article on "Battery electric multiple unit" has a lot of examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_electric_multiple_unit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_electric_multiple_unit

throwaway_5753 3y ago
Cool! I did not know about the electrified truck experiments. I have lived in cities with electrified buses that pulled from overhead lines; those worked well for local routes. I wonder: * How much highway speed complicates things * How much the hardware costs for individual passenger vehicles Regardless, it would be nice to pull from the grid along the main routes; seems like an elegant solution to the range issue with electric vehicles.
- Archelaos 3y ago
  The main issue seems to be the cost of the power lines. According to some news articles, the cost for the test tracks was about 3 million euros per km. Cost estimates for the future assume 1 million euros per km if lines are installed on a large scale. I couldn't find anything about the opperational costs. But what I observe is that more and more test tracks open up in Germany. It seems that German industry and government see a realistic chance for this technology. Of course, this does not provide any certainty, which was demonstrated at the time with the Transrapid.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transrapid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transrapid