WEISSENHÄUSER BEACH. As part of the logRegio session “Sustainable Transport and Mobility/Green Corridor” at Fehmarn Belt Days 2021 on May 31, the eHighway Schleswig-Holstein field trial was also a topic in the question of the logistics of the future. Reinfelder Spedition Bode, a practical partner in the field trial, spoke about the use of various alternative drive options for heavy-duty transport.

Overhead line technology with renewable energies

“In view of the climate targets, mobility must also change fundamentally. We’ve never had that before,” explains Marc-Philipp Bode, Managing Director of Spedition Bode. The company itself wants to try out new technology alternatives at an early stage and is involved as a partner in the eHighway Schleswig-Holstein project, which is investigating electrically powered overhead hybrid trucks (OH trucks) as a complementary option to rail transport. The eight areas of accompanying research include not only the technology and its impact on the environment, but also the economic viability of the technology in order to be able to develop new logistics concepts as well as operating and operating models.

OH trucks also run on electricity away fromhome
“For our investigations, we are looking at the journeys and logistical processes carried out by the Bode freight forwarding company in shuttle transport between its warehouse in Reinfeld and the port of Lübeck,” explains Matthias Bramme from the research partner LOGWERT Competence Center of Heilbronn University and points out an important point: “Catenary hybrid trucks don’t just run on electricity under the overhead line. Rather, they charge their battery here while driving so that they can also drive off the test track without diesel. This can save time by eliminating stops for recharging.” Together with the head of the institute, Prof. Dr. Tobias Bernecker, and with his colleague Jonas Speiser, Bramme has developed an investigation system for the economic evaluation of overhead line trucks. “We analyze the data collected in the field trial on trip history and duration, speed profile, payload, fuel consumption and drive type, and supplement it with additional data on vehicle deployment and holding costs,” he enumerates.
A calculation scheme that the Heilbronn researchers are also developing will enable freight forwarders to compare the use of conventional trucks and OH trucks for their logistics use cases. The goal is a comparative cost calculation based on hourly and kilometer cost rates. “On the one hand, it would give dispatchers a basis for deciding which vehicle to use for a given job,” explains Bramme, “and on the other hand, the data can help transportation companies with strategic questions when it comes to purchasing new vehicles.”

Decision-making basis for politicians and logistics experts
For entrepreneur Marc-Philipp Bode, participating in the project is a win-win situation: “We invest working time, but in exchange for this we gain a lot of knowledge about a technology that could make our daily work more environmentally friendly in the future. The field trial in Schleswig-Holstein will continue until the end of 2022 and the data collected will be merged with the results of the two other eHighway projects ELISA in Hesse and eWayBW in Baden-Württemberg. Together, this will provide a basis for deciding whether, how and with what framework conditions overhead contact line technology will be used in Germany to improve the CO2 balance in heavy goods traffic on the roads.