Electric road to be trialled

A proposal has been made to launch a trial of an electric road near Scunthorpe.

The ‘Electric Road System’ feasibility study, led by Costain Ltd, considers a 20km stretch of road near Scunthorpe for a possible trial of electric road systems. Electric Road Systems supply battery-electric trucks with electricity from overhead catenaries via a pantograph enabling HGVs to charge dynamically.

A similar scheme was trialled in Germany, as pictured here.
Photo by David Cole.

The trial is part of a £20m zero-emission road freight project, funded by the DfT and delivered by Innovate UK. The investment is intended to boost the UK’s transition to zero-emission road freight. As part of the trials, Leyland Trucks is to deploying 20 DAF battery-electric trucks for use by public sector organisations to support the uptake of battery-electric trucks, enabling learning to be gathered from field testing vehicles in a real-world, real-time logistics environment. The investment in an interactive tool will de-risk, aid and encourage fleet operators to convert to battery-electric vehicles.