EHIGHWAY. Research cruises were again conducted as part of the accompanying scientific research of FESH. Scientific data is also continuously collected during normal operation of the test track, but the research runs enable further measurements of the technical behavior of the vehicles as well as the eHighway infrastructure.

During the recent research runs, four O-trucks from the Bode freight forwarding company drove along the test track in convoy. After a driver briefing, the trip started in Reinfeld, first to Bad Oldesloe and then via the A1 to Lübeck. From there, we headed back towards Hamburg. In total, this route was run repeatedly five times.

In addition to determining the efficiency of the energy transfer in different convoy sizes, it was also investigated when voltage peaks occur. For this purpose, a UV measurement was carried out to register arcs occurring on the current collector during travel. From this point of view, driving out of the overhead contact line system without manually switching off the pantographs was also tested.

Another aspect of these research runs was the load test of the electronic overhead contact line systems. For this purpose, the four O-trucks used drove behind each other, sometimes in close proximity. Counter-rotating passes as well as simultaneous acceleration were also tested. On the positive side, no impairments to the voltage supply were observed and the O-trucks remained connected to the overhead line throughout. In total, the four O-trucks traveled 158 kilometers on this research trip, during which they were connected. The average reference power for each truck was 180 kW. With one-third of the research driving on the eHighway and diesel consumption averaging 12.0 l/100km, the potential for CO2 reduction was confirmed.