Germany is testing the use of Catenary Wires over the right lane to power trucks.

[A HERETIC I AM]

In Lübeck, Germany, there's one of several eHighway test projects: overhead catenary wires, where electric trucks with pantographs can pull power directly from the grid.

Interesting.

[shanti]

1. Alternately

Wouldn't it be possible under the road?

[msongs]

3. germany gets deep winter snows nt

[Torchlight]

2. Over 45% of Germany's electric is from renewables,

and this seems (from my admittedly small chair) an insightful allocation of that energy.

Berlin actually hit 50%+ renewable in the first quarter of last year, but that was due to a reduced usage from the pandemic. I hope we all get there sooner rather than later.

[hunter]

12. Aggressive renewable energy schemes in places like Germany, Denmark, and California have failed.

All they've accomplished, at best, is to increase our long term dependence on natural gas.

The situation is so bad in Germany that they haven't been able to quit coal and have been forced to increase their imports of Russian natural gas.

Natural gas is the most dangerous fuel imaginable, largely because so many people think it's "clean." It's not.

Hybrid natural gas / renewable energy schemes will not save the world.

Wind and solar power will not magically displace fossil fuels.

The only energy source that can do that is nuclear power.

France closed its last coal mine about twenty years ago. Germany is still burning coal and natural gas and they won't stop until they face reality by giving up their high energy industrial economy and/or their aversion to nuclear power.

[brush]

4. Isn't there another name for that...a trolley?

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. As the presenter in the video said.....

The technology is certainly not new, but in this type of application - on limited access, high speed roadways - it has never been deployed.

[SCantiGOP]

5. Everything old is new again

A time traveler from the early 1900s would assume we never progressed beyond city trolleys.

[taxi]

7. Pairing with an onboard battery would allow sectional implementation

Signs could notify drivers - Charging Lanes next xx kms
It wouldn't need to be everywhere.

[Shermann]

8. By the time they get all those catenary wires run...

...Elon Musk will have cracked the battery-only code with that Tesla Semi.

[Disaffected]

10. Those batteries would

still require charging i.e. downtime. An overhead electric system could operate 24/7.

OTOH, the overhead component would not be inexpensive. A lot of that would be offset however by reduced battery cost.

Trade offs, trade offs....

[Disaffected]

9. Interesting how great ideas seem

so obvious in hind-sight. This is something that should be of great interest to electric truck manufacturers, especially Tesla whose own transport truck is apparently being held up by lack of batteries, reduced cargo capacity and limited range. This could change all that if it is cost and safety feasible.

They do mention it operates at lower voltages than typical train overheads (for safety reasons) but still....

[Walleye]

11. I remember as a child seeing trolleys, and the sparks in the overhead wires were impressive