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Motorways could get overhead power lines for electric lorries: 'E-highways' could lower total UK emissions by 5%

A  study from Cambridge and Edinburgh has recommended that the inside lanes of motorways should be transformed into “e-highways” for lorries, as part of a plan that would lower the UK’s emissions by as much as 5% and, along with the battery powered urban delivery vehicles, the infrastructure would almost completely decarbonise UK road freight according to the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight (CSRF) 

The scheme would involve more than 9,000 miles of motorway and A-road being fitted with railway-like overhead electric cables. HGVs could then link to the electrified cables using pantographs as used by trams. The electricity would then power the lorry’s electric motor and charge its battery which then becomes the source of power the vehicle leaves the e-highway. Under the proposal, the bill for the upgrades would come to £19.3bn which could be financed by charging hauliers for the electricity they use.


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