What’s involved with implementing trolley assist?
Dillon: One of the things that makes this solution so attractive is that our trucks are already electric - when they run on diesel, that powers a generator that feeds power to the wheel motors. So, with trolley assist, we’re feeding those wheel motors directly by drawing power from an overhead catenary. The interesting part is that the onboard diesel engine only generates half the power that the wheel motors can handle. That’s because those motors have to be sized to support dynamic braking. So, we’re actually utilizing the unused potential of those motors. This makes trolley assist trucks much more powerful, more efficient, and faster.