Sweden opened an electric highway for trucks in Gävle, north of Stockholm, as a trial for hybrid technology designed to reduce emissions.
During the two-year-trial of the 1.2-mile eHighway, hybrid trucks will produce zero emission while drawing power from overhead power lines and revert back to diesel elsewhere,
CNET reported.
The project, developed in a partnership between Siemens and Scania, makes Sweden the first country to test an electric highway. Siemens said the trucks developed for the project are "twice as efficient" as conventional engines.
Another eHighway project in California is planned as a partnership between Siemens and Volvo.
"The truck can freely connect to and disconnect from the overhead wires while in motion, operating as electric vehicles when on the electrified road and as regular hybrid vehicles at other times,"
Scania said in a press release.
Transportation accounts for one-third of carbon dioxide emissions in Sweden and half of that is from freight transportation,
PC Magazine reported.
The eHighway technology cuts energy consumption in half and reduces air pollution said Roland Edel, chief engineer at the Siemens Mobility Division.
The California project is schedule to test through 2017.
Siemens posted a video on YouTube describing the eHighway system.
"The eHighway system combines the efficiency of railroad with the flexibility of trucks into an innovative solution that is efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly," Simens wrote in the video description. "The system makes it possible to reduce the use of fossil fuels and truck operating costs, at the same time eliminating local emissions."
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