
FESH press conference on June 18, 2024
KIEL. Today, the FuE-Zentrum FH Kiel GmbH and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Transport, Employment, Technology and Tourism of the State of Schleswig-Holstein (MWVATT) held a press conference on the future of the overhead line projects.
Like the overhead line projects in Hesse and Baden-Württemberg, the eHighway Schleswig-Holstein field trial is facing some indifference on the part of the Federal Ministry of Transport. Despite good results, it seems as if the Ministry of Transport is letting the overhead line projects fizzle out, thereby jeopardizing the technological leadership achieved so far and putting the rapid decarbonization of heavy goods transport at risk.
This was criticized by State Secretary for Transport Tobias von der Heide, the FESH project managers Dr. Michael Brand and Jan Bachmann as well as Marcel Zembrot, Head of the “Intelligent Road, Automated Driving” department from the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Transport. Spedition Bode, a practical partner in the field test, supported the demand for sustainable plans for the decarbonization of heavy goods transport and thus for more planning security for logistics companies with fleet manager Dennis Willers.
“We submitted a comprehensive project outline in June 2022 and it took around two years for the Federal Ministry of Transport to reject it in April – due to a ‘lack of funds’. This is a difficult and critical development for us. We lack the federal government’s will to shape the project, which we absolutely need for the decarbonization of road freight transport,” explained Zembrot, emphasizing the already mature plans for the implementation of larger overhead line projects in Baden-Württemberg and Hesse as well as in Bavaria.
“In our view, even a passive decision to dismantle the test tracks would not be objectively justifiable and would pose a risk to the technology leadership that has been developed up to this point,” says von der Heide.
Click here for the press release (German)