First electric highway for hybrid trucks in Germany

Germany has opened its first ever section of “eHighway”, which allows hybrid cargo trucks to charge their batteries while they are on the move.
On Tuesday, the German government introduced the technology on a six-mile-long stretch of Autobahn near the city of Frankfurt. It uses 670-volt direct-current overhead cables which let electric trucks draw down power and recharge batteries on the go.
The programme, called ELISA (electrified innovative heavy traffic on the Autobahn), is an environment ministry-sponsored project involving Siemens and authorities from the state of Hesse, where it is taking place.
The trucks — which have conductor rods called pantographs added to the top of the cabin — must be going less than 56 miles/hour to successfully make a connection.
When they’re connected they run on electricity alone. When they rejoin the normal highway they switch back to their hybrid engines.
Siemens says the technology will save a 40-tonne truck €20,000 ($22,000) in fuel costs over 62,100 miles.
It also said if a driver swerved to the left or right while connected to the cables it would not detach. The 6-mile stretch will be tested until 2022, after which a decision will be made on whether or not to expand the project, which has so far cost the government €14 million.