Electric vehicles can recently be charged while driving in Sweden. A special road enabling this was opened on Wednesday 11 April. The road is primarily aimed at truck traffic, but is also accessible to passenger cars.
The road was built within the Swedish Ministry of Transport's eRoadArlanda project, which is aimed at for the development of 'electrified roads'. The project aims to gather knowledge about, experience with and data on electrified roads, eventually leading to the electrification of larger parts of the Swedish road network.
Consortium
A consortium of companies is involved in the eRoadArlanda project. They include Elways, NCC, PostNord, ABT-bolagen, Vattenfall, DAF, KTH, Kilenkrysset, VTI, E-traction, GCT, KTH, Bilprovningen, Airport City Stockholm, Sigtuna Municipality, Swedavia, Arlanda Stad Holding, TraningPartner, FirstHotel, Frost Produktion, SMM Dulevo and Sandströms Elfirma. These parties have jointly developed a rail that is incorporated into the asphalt and is energised. Vehicles can be charged via this rail while driving.
The stretch of road recently opened is the first section opened within the eRoadArlanda project. The stretch is two kilometres long and runs between the Arlanda Cargo Terminal at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport and the Rosersberg logistics area near the Swedish capital Stockholm. The road incorporates a special live rail. Vehicles are connected to this rail using a movable arm while driving, allowing electricity to be fed through the arm to the vehicle's battery. This arm is attached to the underside of vehicles, independently searches for the rails while driving and connects automatically. Because the arm can move, vehicles can move freely within their lanes without losing the connection.
Reduce fuel consumption
The project is primarily aimed at reducing the fuel consumption of truck traffic. Trucks equipped with the special arm have been developed for the project. This is an 18-tonne truck that will transport goods for Swedish postal company PostNord. However, the rails can also be used by passenger cars, although these will have to be fitted with the movable arm.
"One of the most important problems of our time is how to achieve fossil fuel-free transport. We now have a solution that makes this possible, which is great. Sweden is leading the way with this technology, which we hope to introduce in other parts of the country and the world as well," said Hans Säll, Board Chairman of the eRoadArlanda consortium and Business Development Director at NCC.
Fossil fuel-free transport infrastructure
33% of CO2 emissions in Sweden are caused by road traffic, one-third of which is estimated to be due to freight traffic. It is expected that two-thirds of freight traffic in Sweden can be carried by electrified roads by 2030. This could reduce the energy consumption of freight traffic by 10 TWh, equivalent to three million tonnes of fuel. However, the Swedish government's goal is even more ambitious: to build a completely fossil fuel-free transport infrastructure by 2030. This infrastructure should increase Sweden's competitiveness. In fact, allowing trucks to run electrically not only saves the environment, but also allows transport companies to save significantly on operational costs.
Within the eRoadArlanda project, only main routes in Sweden will be equipped with electric rails, representing 2 to 4 per cent of the total road network. Trucks can be charged on these main routes while driving, while on the shorter journeys between routes they can use their built-in battery.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: eRoadArlanda
Photo by: Joakim Kröger of NCC
