Next July, the US South Coast Air Quality Management District is to begin a one-year trial of a so-called e-Highway system between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — the two biggest ports in the USA.

The $13.5 million project will consist of a two-way, one-mile overhead electric catenary system that will run on Alameda Street from East Lomita Boulevard to the Dominguez Channel. The German engineering giant Siemens has been selected to build the catenary system, as well as the ‘current collectors,’ which will allow trucks to link and unlink from the e-Highway at any speed.

A catenary system consists of overhead wires that vehicles pass under to receive electrical charges using a pantograph — a device mounted on the roof of the vehicle to collect the required electrical power. They are most commonly used in the USA by trolley buses and street-cars.

The e-Highway concept applies the catenary system to trucks, allowing them to collect electrical power with a pantograph that unfolds from the roof of a truck. After passing under the catenary system, trucks can switch to other energy sources. A miniature-version of the e-Highway, based in two lanes of a street in the city of Carson in California, was set up earlier this month by Siemens, in collaboration with the Volvo Group.

Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the air pollution control agency for Southern Cali-fornia, said: “The ports, in spite of all their innovative work in emission reductions, are the largest sources of air pollution in the region. So we are going to need this kind of zero-emission goods movement system to achieve the air-quality goals that are mandated by the federal government.”