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Could electric roads spark a green transport revolution?

The mobile laundry for homeless people

Oose gonna pay for it?

A propos of nothing, the UK intervention in Iraq between 2003 and 2009 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War) cost £8.4bn.

The Ministry of the Environment is spending a total of almost 50 million euros on the three test sections, including almost 15 million euros for the section on the A5. In December, the Ministry commissioned Scania to supply hybrid trucks with pantographs.

Might as well put the conductor rail in the road way.

Might as well put the conductor rail in the road way.

Unlikely in my view. Fraught with hazards. Overhead is bad enough but is at least out of easy reach. And remember that a rubber tyred vehicle needs TWO conductor rails or overhead wires, railways are bad enough with just one.

The health and safety industry are opposed to any significant expansion of conductor rails on railways, so anything similar on roads would seem likely to be prohibited.

Overhead catenaries and compatible HGV’s are the most energy-efficient and cost-effective solution to fully decarbonise the UK’s road freight network. Their deployment is essential if the UK is to achieve its  Carbon  budgets through  to  net-zero GHG  emissions  by  2050.  The  technology  is  proven  and  the transition  from  the  current  diesel-centric  approach  to  catenary-powered  electric  vehicles  can  be handled  with  hybrid  vehicles

The German government has spent over £62 million (€70 million) to date on its catenary programme across three main demonstration sites (BMU, 2018). These include the A5 near Frankfurt, the BAB1 near  Lubeck  and  the  B462  near  Baden-Württemberg.  In  each  of  the  projects,  the  planning  phase consisted  of  one  year,  and  the  construction  took  9 months.  The  electrified  sections  range  between 6 km  and  10  km,  with  an  average  per  lane-km  construction  cost  of  approximately  £1.29  million (€1.46 million).

vehicle that had two poles at the back that collected electricty to propel the vehicle

More on the subject of overhead electrification for powering HGVs in this report:

Decarbonising  the  UK’s  Long-Haul  Road Freight at Minimum Economic Cost
http://www.csrf.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/SRF-WP-UKEMS-v2.pdf (http://www.csrf.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/SRF-WP-UKEMS-v2.pdf)

Have they explained how lorries will overtake other vehicles?  Or is that a question they hoped would not be asked

And as to the issues of sizing the power supply, its feeds, its protection, and how to earth a lorry for safety - look elsewhere.

Yes. Drop the pantograph(s), drive round, or across the junction, or into and out of where you take our break, then reconnect. What's the problem?

Road vehicles do not stay on a rigid line, unlike those on rails, and although the picture on the BBC looks impressive I can forsee multiple cases of dewiring and wires down

What is the return path for the current with a single contact wire and a pantograph? Works fine when running on rails but rubber tyres and tarmac roads have very high electrical resistance. Trolley buses worked ok with twin wires and trolleys but required controlled switches at all junctions. Worked OK in an urban environment with its lowers speeds. Can't see trolleys working too well at the higher speeds on motorways. Road vehicles do not stay on a rigid line, unlike those on rails, and although the picture on the BBC looks impressive I can forsee multiple cases of dewiring and wires down

The Tilbury-headquartered scale-up, which has so far raised $140m in funding, will unveil its hydrogen electric vehicle alongside its latest full-battery electric HGV at the Road Transport Expo in Warwickshire.

Hydrogen has been used safely in buses and other vehicles in more than twenty countries for many years and has a higher energy density than lithium-ion batteries or even diesel. Because of these properties, it is particularly attractive for use in larger, commercial vehicles.

By adding a hydrogen fuel cell system to its battery-electric HGV design, Tevva is delivering zero-emission solutions that will work for the overwhelming majority of fleet operators across a range of industries and sectors. The fuel cell system tops up the battery, extending the vehicle’s range and allowing the truck to carry heavier loads over longer distances.

One advantage of using the fuel cell as a range extender, rather than the primary source of power, is that it allows Tevva to provide smaller, cheaper and lighter fuel cells and operate these at the highest possible efficiency.

Tevva’s 7.5-tonne hydrogen electric truck comfortably meets (and exceeds) demanding duty cycles for nearly all urban and extra-urban use cases. Tevva’s innovation means that its customers can drive for longer (with a range of up to 310 miles or 500 kilometres) and will have reassurance because of the technology’s reliability and safety.

Crucially, hydrogen refuelling typically takes a similar time to diesel truck refuelling (5-20 minutes) and the dual-use of both battery electric and hydrogen energy sources futureproofs Tevva and its customers as the transition away from fossil fuels and the decarbonisation of the transport industry continues.