Trolleybus

A rubber-tired electric bus powered by overhead wires through roof-mounted poles called trolley poles. It can steer within a limited distance of its wired route.

Trolley pole: A spring-loaded pole that connects a trolleybus to an overhead electrical wire. Its contact shoe collects current from the wire as the bus moves.
Electric bus: A bus propelled by electric motors using energy stored onboard or supplied externally. Trolleybuses are a type of electric bus with continuous overhead power.
Werner von Siemens: A German engineer and industrialist who developed early electrical technologies, including an electric road vehicle. His 1882 experimental vehicle helped establish the overhead-powered road-transport idea.
Public transport: Passenger transport services available for shared use, typically operating on set routes and schedules. Trolleybuses provide scheduled urban transit without onboard exhaust emissions.
Overhead lines: Elevated conductors that distribute electrical power to vehicles or equipment below. A trolleybus draws traction power from a pair of these conductors.
Trolleybus infrastructure: The wires, substations, poles, and other facilities needed to operate trolleybuses. A trolleybus route depends on fixed electrical equipment along its streets.
Siemens and Halske: A German electrical engineering company founded in 1847 by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske. The company built the early electric road vehicle demonstrated in Berlin.
Urban transit: Public transportation within cities and their surrounding urban areas. Trolleybuses are especially suited to frequent, fixed urban routes.
Traction motor: An electric motor that converts electrical energy into mechanical force for vehicle movement. It turns the current collected from the wires into wheel-driving torque.
Substation: An installation that transforms and distributes electrical power within an electric network. Substations feed the overhead network that supplies trolleybus routes.

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