This week at the Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles, Siemens has announced its ‘eHighway’ concept. The eHighway concept introduces the idea of diesel-electric hybrid trucks which can work like a electric trolley when overhead electric lines are available and work as a diesel truck when overhead electric lines are not available. Siemens says that the technology can significantly reduce carbon emissions by reducing the use of fossil fuels in trucks.

An official video release release shows a demonstration of how the system would work on highways. The hybrid trucks will be equipped on-board software and hardware. When the trucks detect the presence of overhead electric lines the electric poles will be connected to the the wires through on-board poles. This electricity will power the trucks’ electric drive motors, letting the diesel engines shut down. As soon as the trucks leave the lanes with overhead wires, the diesel engine starts up for the manual operation.

According to Siemens, its eHighway concept will minimize air pollution by eliminating tailpipe pollution from trucks. Siemens is testing the technology in Germany. Siemens believes that the eHighway concept would work with any sort of hybrid or range-extended electric vehicles in future .

Source : Siemens News
Image Credit : Siemens