Germany is building the world's largest network of electric highways for trucks
The government focuses on mass electrification of road transport. The network of electric highways is to cover the whole country and become a role model in ecology issues for the whole world.
The project will be implemented with great momentum. Germany wants to significantly reduce pollution that road transport generates to the atmosphere. This country is a transit area, so in fact, all of Europe's residents contribute to the tragic air quality of our neighbors, which later goes to us.
Over the next 10 years, the government plans as many as 4,000 kilometers of electric highways. Thus, they want to electrify up to 30 percent of all road transport. The technology of driving electric vehicles from the overhead contact line is not new, because we all know it well, e.g. from trolleybuses or trams, but only now someone wants to make it practical, and on such a large scale.
Germany has already tested this technology on their highways. In May this year, a 10-kilometer section of the electric highway called eHighway was created. It is located between Frankfurt Airport and the city of Weiterstadt and is behind Siemens. Engineers have calculated that when 10 percent of German transit traffic uses electric traction and renewable resources in 10 years, as much as 7 million tons of carbon dioxide will get less into the atmosphere.
But this is not the end of the benefits. Analysts point out that a 40-ton truck over a 100,000 kilometer stretch of eAutostrada will save an average of 20,000 euros. It's impressive, right? This fact is already attracting more and more new owners of transport companies who want to invest in this technology not only for their own savings, but also for the good of society and the whole planet.
Of course, we can say that pantograph technology is obsolete and we should deal with something from the future, such as Hyperloop technology, which can take transport to a whole new level. However, Hyperloop is in its infancy and it will be many years before it becomes profitable and practical. Germany emphasizes that we have little time left to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before it is too late. You can't wait, you must act now. Electric highways are to be a panacea for current problems.