FRANKFURT. The German overhead line projects FESH, eWayBW, ELISA and BEE hosted a network meeting with international participation at the House of Logistics and Mobility (HOLM) in Frankfurt am Main on December 11.

After the official welcome by Autobahn GmbH des Bundes and the project sponsor VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik, the project managers of the field trials presented results from operation and research. Independently of each other, they drew a consistently positive summary of their tests and confirmed the high technological maturity of the overhead contact line. Among other things, they addressed the safety and reliability of the system as well as the development progress of the system components used and the performance. The review of lean processes in the planning and construction of the test tracks also showed them that a rollout of the infrastructure could be implemented quickly. The BEE project also showed by an example of a DAF truck that it is already possible to retrofit pantographs to battery-electric trucks, including road approval, which would reduce dependency on vehicle manufacturers.

In the afternoon, representatives of partner companies from industry and logistics, Siemens Mobility GmbH, Scania AG and Contargo GmbH & Co. KG, shared their experiences with the technology and their assessments of its benefits with the audience. The industry is ready to scale up the technology, provided the appropriate political signals are received. Contargo saw the overhead line as a solution to problems faced with other alternatives, and was basically prepared for a mix of technologies.

In a concluding panel discussion, representatives from Deutsche Post / DHL, the network operator NetzeBW and the Dutch Ministry of Transport explained their positions. Logistics representatives criticized the fact that too little consideration had been given to the user perspective in decision-making processes to date. It was assumed that the exclusive use of stationary charging infrastructure could hardly be a sensible solution due to the lack of space and network capacity for depot charging and also because of the difficulty in bringing it together with driving and rest periods. Overhead line technology would solve these problems. From the network operator’s point of view, it makes economic sense to minimize the amount of network expansion required for the electrification of road transport by using a technology that serves the network, such as overhead lines. In addition, the provision of high-capacity connections would require more lead time, while the connection of the overhead line would be easier to plan.