The German Government has decided to co-finance a research project to test and develop electric road technology for eHighways. Volkswagen Group Research and Siemens together will develop technology and hybrid electric long-haulage trucks supplied by Scania for the German eHighway research project. This research is a pre-phase before the startup of three different test areas on German public roads, with electric power supplied from overhead lines.

The project, “Trucks for German eHighways,” aims to reduce carbon emissions from long-haul heavy-duty commercial vehicles. During 2019 and 2020, electrically powered trucks are to be tested on three new German eHighways. The project is co-financed by the German Government through BMUB, the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety.

One test road will be built in Schleswig-Holstein on the A1 Autobahn close to Lübeck, one in Hessen on the A5 Autobahn south of Frankfurt, and a third in Baden-Württemberg on the B462 federal highway.

“For long-haulage transport, Scania sees electric roads as one promising technology for a sustainable transport future. Vehicle electrification is developing quickly, and with its environmental, social, and cost benefits, it will play an important role in the shift to a fossil-free transport system,” said Claes Erixon, Executive Vice President Research and Development at Scania.

The research project is being managed by Volkswagen Group Research, which will contribute resources and knowledge regarding vehicle electrification for passenger cars and investigate research synergies for the electrification of heavy commercial vehicles.

In the first phase of the project, Scania will supply two hybrid electric long-haulage prototype trucks with different powertrains: One will have a single battery with a 15-kW·h capacity, and the other will have several batteries for greater capacity.

Similar to Scania’s ongoing trials of hybrid electric trucks on an electric road in Sweden, the world’s first public road test of this technology, the German tests will see Scania trucks equipped with a pantograph power collector developed by Siemens mounted on the frame behind the cab.

“Scania will enter this new project with all our experience from the Swedish project. In the German project, the most important research areas will be to analyze and optimize the powertrain concept, energy management, the hybrid transmission, battery aging, and the next generation cooling system,” said Christer Thorén, Project Manager for Electric Road Technology at Scania.