r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/guyoffthegrid • 2d ago
Hybrid truck recharges from overhead wires Video
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u/debau23 2d ago
Toolgifs? That cant be the name of a German town?
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u/treylanford 1d ago
r/toolgifs and u/toolgifs — that guy sneaks in some gems in the gifs and videos he posts. It’s pretty damn impressive.
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u/einRoboter 1d ago
This sign is for a Truckstop near Weiterstadt.
The sign was altered for the video. It is actually called"Brühlgraben".→ More replies (5)7
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u/ScrotieMcP 2d ago
You know they did that with buses in the 50's.
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u/healthybowl 1d ago
Society likes to do circles on things. Electric vehicles were dominate modes of transportation in NY in the early 1900s.
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u/perldawg 1d ago
not as dominant as horses were at that time
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u/healthybowl 1d ago
You never know. If cars become too expensive for a common man to afford…… might be back to horses
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u/CanadianPanda76 1d ago
We had those for buses in our city, for a LONG time. It would occasionally detach snd the bus driver would have to bring out the stick to fix it
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u/tonny124 1d ago
Trolleybuses are attached though, this seems like you could just optionally press the pantograph against it when you're on the highway, nice!
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u/Billoo77 2d ago
Now imagine if they put it on smooth tracks for its entire journey and it didn’t have to change speed constantly!
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u/battleship61 1d ago
Nature loves to evolve things to be crabs.
We keep evolving transit to be busses and trains.
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u/Blu3Army73 2d ago
That would be a distinct disadvantage in this case, the entire point is that it sometimes charges on main routes and sometimes takes routes without infrastructure while on battery
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u/_Lost_The_Game 1d ago
Agreed. Though i thinking having both would be highly efficient. 6+lane highways (3+ on each side) should be converted where possible to: Center lane(s) for railways
Second from center lane, this sort of hybrid highway speed trolley power. Outer lane remains non trolly powered vehicles
Theres a good usage for all gradients of transportation, we just need to put them in their right use cases. Not overly rely on one form (rn automobiles)
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u/jackie_chans_nose 2d ago
I remember they proposed this in Canada years ago and the backlash was massive.
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u/FuzzyWuzzyWuzntFuzzy 1d ago
Canadians are heavily Americanized and pretty stupid when it comes to transportation.
Am Canadian, can confirm. This is just a train but less effective.
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u/CinderX5 1d ago
No it’s not. It’s a charging station that you can use without stoping. The truck can still go anywhere that any other truck can.
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u/non3type 1d ago
Freight trains in US are almost exclusively diesel. The routes are limited and infrastructure is old and slow.
This isn’t really much different than power lines over a road. Seems like it could be pretty easily done over any rural length of interstate. If you actually care this seems a legitimate idea.
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u/DieZockZunft 1d ago
I live in the area of this test track. One company uses it with a terminal to a harbour. So the trucks are delivering goods like 50 km from the site to the harbour. There is no space to build train tracks right now because the last steps would go through residental areas. You can look at it Bad Oldesloe to Lübeck. The street is Seelandkai/Seelandstraße.
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u/BetterSelection7708 1d ago
Trains already exist, but it comes with too many extra steps of needing to load and reload the cargo. This thing has a battery and can go to areas with no overhead wires.
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u/user2542 1d ago
Maybe they could even connect a bunch of them together to increase capacity and improve efficiency!
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u/Olasola424 1d ago
And maybe use steel wheels on steel track to improve the efficiency even more! While also removing the biggest emission source of heavy road vehicles, which is tyre and road wear.
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u/Ten_Ju 1d ago
Yeah but these trucks are meant for final destination delivery, rail cargo is great for long distance, but you eventually need a truck to take the cargo from a freight yards to the warehouses and business, so you need something to get on and off the highway into the streets.
This allows hybrid cargo trucks while minimizing downtime for charging.
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u/agreetodisagree2023 2d ago
In America, some asshole in a RAM would roll coal in front of this thing as a protest(?)
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u/CMDR_BitMedler 1d ago
Living in a city littered with tracks and the construction to maintain them constantly, no... this is way better!
You'd be surprised how hard it still seems to be to lay tracks a century after the tech was invented. Especially in a city. Those rails don't come in 8ft lengths, they're usually a full trailer length.
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u/shadofx 1d ago
Then it would suck because it won't be able to drive offroad when it needs to
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u/Worried-Inevitable69 1d ago
That’s what the batteries are for it is just recharging by using the wires
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u/Pineappl3z 1d ago
500 ton-miles per gallon of fuel too. That's significant better than road trains in fuel efficiency.
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u/HyperDJ_15 1d ago
I think it’s more that they can just recharge for a stretch on a motorway (pardon my British)
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u/landrias1 1d ago
At least someone finally found a way to get trucks to stay in the right lane.
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u/Original_Drawing_661 1d ago
It's in Germany, close to Frankfurt am Main.
I've seen these cables for years but not once I've seen a truck actually use them.
Good to know there's at least one truck using them !
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u/Diskuss 1d ago
But doesn’t it say Norderstedt on that blue sign?
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u/BlakkOpps 1d ago
It says Weiterstadt and afaik the lines only exist for a short distance as the system is still in its testing phase.
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u/Grirgrur 1d ago
This is fucking genius. Just have trams. Limit them to one lane, automate them with AI.
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u/erasrhed 1d ago
This truck can drive on roads without overhead wires. It is wildly more versatile than a tram.
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u/thedirtymeanie 1d ago
It's amazing that we have electric trucks and all that we need to use them is 7,000 miles of overhead wire and infrastructure lol
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u/Trollimperator 1d ago
No u dont. You dont load the Truck all the time. You load the battery. Its amazing that you are stupid enough to "think" thats how the world would work.
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u/Bergasms 19h ago
How does this comment have 25 upvotes. I'm disappointed there are at least 24 other people this stupid on the planet.
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u/some_lerker 1d ago
What is also interesting; The thing above the truck that is touching the wire is called a pantograph.
Pantographs are folding metal devices that press a wide contact pan against the overhead wire.
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u/ottarthedestroyer 1d ago
Hey this is a great idea to keep them in the slow lane and not pacing each other at .02mph different for 20 miles.
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u/Psychological-Set198 1d ago
Like city buses in eastern europe, using this technology for 50 years.
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u/Burpreallyloud 2d ago
Big deal
Our city had this for over 60 years for our busses until our nutbar city council decided in the 1980’s that Diesel busses were more suited to our needs rather than look beyond the next five years.
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u/Madness_Quotient 1d ago
That's called a Pantograph.
Classic electrification technology for when batteries aren't practical.
I wonder if they have heard of these train things. By chaining a bunch of trailers together and running them on a low friction rail with one very powerful truck at the front, there are even greater efficiency gains.
Probably won't catch on.
What I would really like to see is canals but instead of horses, have a semi motor on a rail. Imagine the efficiency of that super low friction high mass slow speed transport.
Plus water!
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u/Olasola424 1d ago
And these train things could run at higher speeds than lorries, around 120-140 km/h. Amazing, am I right?
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u/ProfessionalFail9851 1d ago
Inner city electric freight delivery system. Now THAT I can get behind instead of cross country electric rigs. This seems WAY more practical.
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u/Any_Swimmer8717 1d ago
has to drive on that road for 12 hours to get to 18 percent battery lol
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u/Worried-Inevitable69 1d ago
DC fast chargers 15% to 80% in forty minutes. Spend the extra money when you purchase the vehicle and don’t get a type 1 charger.
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u/MaxMadisonVi 1d ago
Anything that requires a global infrastructure change isn’t going to work, period. There’s no way a country can set up dedicated roads, aerial lines, battery swap stations or anything else to speed up the charging process all in one time, where anyone can plug a portable wallbox anywhere and start charging
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u/Worried-Inevitable69 1d ago
Maybe not aerial lines. battery swap stations not even an option. Wireless charging on dedicated roads is a possibility vehicle would have to have wireless charging capabilities. Charging stations every 50 miles on major highways and interstate that infrastructure is being built right now. How long it takes to charge your electric car will depend on what type of charger is in your vehicle. Since what people call car chargers is actually a power supply for your charger that is in your vehicle. Is gas or diesel fuel going anytime soon no is electric going to replace it eventually probably but not anytime soon. They need to combine the two things first and make more rechargeable hybrid. The more we start depending on electric the price will increase. Less we depend on gas the price of it will decrease.
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u/wayward_son7 1d ago
Rather than going fully electric, this should be the norm. Easier on infrastructure and environment until we come up with better EV technology
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u/Worth_Fondant3883 2d ago
Who else is picturing some redneck hillbilly with a coat hanger off a pole from his F250?
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u/Worried-Inevitable69 1d ago
Coat hanger will be glowing red till it melts would not last very long after contact the size of the wire is to small.
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u/ResidentAd138 2d ago
So it is basically tram without rail. Since you mentioned hybrid, I am wondering how the mechanism of attach and detach to those ovethead lines.
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u/PinkSploosh 2d ago
same as trains, it just raises and lowers the thing touching the overhead cables, it is not attached to them
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u/Plus_Pangolin_8924 2d ago
Its called a pantograph. Its on trams, trains and such very well proven technology.
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u/6472617065 2d ago
Don't need mechanical attachment with induction charging technology... just need to get them close enough and the magnetic fields rotating the right way.
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u/ImaginaryComb821 1d ago
More great infrastructure enjoyed by everyone paid for by those awful tax dollars./s
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u/juzzbert 2d ago
If it needs to run on those rails, is it really considered a hybrid? Genuinely asking since I have no idea how this vehicle works.
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u/whosat___ 2d ago
It charges occasionally where the overhead wires are, but it runs on battery elsewhere.
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2d ago
It's not a question of if fossil fuels days are numbered, but rather one of when....
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u/Jogaila2 2d ago
This tech is from the 50s.
You're dreaming if you think fossil fuels are going anywhere for a decade or two
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u/mystonedalt 2d ago
A decade or two has already gone by like it was nothing. I am at that weird age where things I have that are 20 years old are "my new ones."
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u/Impressive-Walrus527 2d ago
Many countries have passed legislation to phase out fossil fuel vehicles in the next decade or two. Not as crazy as you think.
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u/Taborenja 2d ago
There is a colossal difference between prohibiting the sale of new ICE passenger vehicles and phasing out all kinds of ICE vehicles, including used passenger cars, semis, agricultural equipment, heavy machinery, all the specialized vehicles used in civil engineering, mining, logistics, factories, boats, planes, etc...
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u/Mash709 2d ago
As long as air travel and sea based transport exist, fossil fuels will still be around.
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1d ago
Sure. But they're going to continue to displace fossil fuels as the preferred energy source where feasible. Right now my PUD, with a customer base probably around 100k households, gets ~70% of it's energy from renewables here in the PacNW. That's wind, solar, hydro, geo and nuclear and i can't recall off the top of my head exactly what date they're aiming for, but there is a long-term goal of becoming 100% renewables. All this while having one of the best service ratings in the West at very competitive rates.
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u/ActinCobbly 1d ago
If this was India it would be used for an entirely different recreational activity.
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u/luvnunny 1d ago
Long term I wish this evolves to some sort of hybrid. 1. with dedicated rail like lanes on highways, that can be shared with non commercial traffic, 2. wheels that are road and rail compatible., may be wedge the track compatibility between sets of tires. Also reduces the amount of pollution caused by tires on roads.
- no drivers, individual carts(trucks) operated by AI, that change lanes only at predetermined junctions.
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u/ciceros_phantom_hand 1d ago
Jeremy and James literally thought this same thing out in an old Top Gear.
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u/Sure_Chocolate1982 1d ago
How much efficient or inefficient that is ??
And how do they pay for it?
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u/Zoltar-Wizdom 1d ago
Actually pretty cool if it’s able to charge the Batteries at the same time without stopping and then detach and continue deliveries.
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u/GimmeFreePizzaa 1d ago
Dam the same road that allows you to go 150 mph legally, also has hybrid trucks?? Germany seems kinda awesome...
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u/THiedldleoR 1d ago
This may look interesting, but it's been reported to just be a huge waste of government funds meant to combat climate change. This technology is completely unfit/way too expensive to even be considered. They knew that from the start and did it anyways. Here's an article for context, sorry it's in German: https://m.focus.de/auto/news/dafuer-hatte-man-2000-diesel-lkw-kaufen-koennen-190-millionen-versenkt-elektro-lkw-mit-oberleitung-sind-teurer-flop_id_201432050.htmlhttps://m.focus.de/auto/news/dafuer-hatte-man-2000-diesel-lkw-kaufen-koennen-190-millionen-versenkt-elektro-lkw-mit-oberleitung-sind-teurer-flop_id_201432050.html
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u/ActualLeague5706 1d ago
Tbh a decent solution in the city for convenient transportation without outrageous battery prices. Highways too, if infrastructure could be built
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u/OkVeterinarian3564 1d ago
Imagine the receptor getting tangled with the wire. Isn’t that more likely to happen than train does?
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u/Xenome254 1d ago
Here in Germany we have several parts of the Autobahn which were constructed with such powerlines for experimental purposes. They are tested mainly in cooperation with Scania. But most of these tests get canceled after the subvention have been running out at the end of the contract.
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u/Holmanizer 1d ago
Clever idea for recharging on the go. Might not be the most efficient but hell its better than the stop and charge we have here
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u/Dazzling_Crow_4018 1d ago
as much as i know, only 6 Trucks used this system in Germany near Rostock. Its a test system for 60mio Euros and the Test is now over. Like the Transrapid just in v2.0
In German we Said "Rohrkrepierer"
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u/c4mma 1d ago
The more I look at it, the more I think that at the end, electric trains and trams will be the only real green solution for everything.
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u/thatguy8193 1d ago
And just wjere is all of that extra electricity going g to come from? 🧐 the other day I saw a GIANT diesel generator powering a tesla charging station 🤣🤣🤣 what's the point of electric vehicles!?!?
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u/5256chuck 1d ago
THE VERY LAST THING WE NEED IS MORE OVERHEAD WIRES AND POLES!!! Jesus, people. Just 'cause there is a way doesn't mean it's a GOOD way. Is there a list anywhere of stupid ideas that I can forward this to?
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u/Mountain-Froyo-3565 18h ago
any time i see a new tech like this i think to myself,,what would happen if this system was implemented in Gary Indiana
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u/SyllabubWest7922 18h ago
America really IS a third world country how come we don't have electric trucks yet?
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u/Marsweep 2d ago
So it's just a tram without tracks, right?