Long stretches of the slow lane on UK motorways could be converted into mobile power and charging facilities for e-lorries and hybrids under a proposal put forward to help accelerate the country’s transport decarbonisation strategy. Overhead charging cables, similar to those used by trams or trolley buses, would allow e-lorries to attach themselves and be powered along the motorway while simultaneously charging batteries.
When lorries leave the converted sections of motorway or want to switch to another lane to overtake they would switch to battery power or their petrol or diesel engine in the case of hybrid vehicles. The cables would be part of a low-voltage system similar to those used by trams such as Edinburgh’s airport to city centre tram and Manchester’s Metrolink. That means cars and other vehicles would be able to continue to use the converted lanes.
The scheme under consideration, estimated to cost £5.7 billion, would target around 2000 miles of the UK’s busiest freight routes and be fully rolled out by 2030. Despite representing a significant investment, the cost of the proposal is around a third of London’s delayed £18.7 billion Crossrail project.
Siemens Mobility, a Munich-based subsidiary of the German conglomerate Siemens, is behind the proposal to convert routes that run across the country from the UK’s busiest ports like Grimsby, Hull, Liverpool, Felixstowe, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Port Talbot. Stretches of the M1, M4, M6, M8, M20, M25, M62, M180 and A14 would all be electrified. Extending the project to 9300 miles of motorway and A roads by 2040 would cost a total £19 billion.
Siemens Mobility chief executive Will Wilson talked up the proposal’s environmental credentials with:
“By going further and faster to introduce eHighways, we can slash carbon emissions from HGVs in the UK. Through investing in this proven technology Britain could have electric and hybrid trucks running between our major ports before the end of this decade.”
Siemens Mobility is reportedly willing to invest in the project alongside the UK government as in ongoing discussions with officials.
The UK’s 2030 deadline on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles is extended to 2035 for diesel HGVs under 26 tonnes and 2040 for heavier models because existing battery technology can’t effectively power them. The overhead charging cables scheme could be one way to sidestep the risk of the UK’s haulage industry, which accounts for 18% of all polluting vehicle emissions, acting as a drag on decarbonisation targets.
The UK’s transition to clean electric power will not come cheap. As well as paying out billions in subsidies to renewable energy producers and discounts on electric car purchases, the Treasury loses around £1000 a year in lost fuel duty and vehicle tax for every EV on the roads. The country’s entire transportation network converting to electricity would deprive the Treasury of £28 billion in fuel duties.
One major attraction of the Siemens Mobility proposal is that it would offer a way to generate some income to recoup at least a small portion of those losses. The German company estimates that the project would break even within 20 years at a charge of 8p per mile of electricity used by HGV operators. However, using the electrification scheme would save operators around £11,000 over the lifetime of an HGV, leaving room for a solid profit margin.
The technology is already being used in some countries with Sweden starting trials in 2016 and Germany also currently installing cables on three German motorways that are expected to be operational this year. A further section of motorway will be added out of Frankfurt between 2022 and 2023.
Siemens estimates that once 2500 miles over motorway and major roads in the UK are electrified with overhead cables, using them will make financial sense for as much as 80% of long-distance HGVs.