A stretch of road in Sweden is to be electrified in a pilot project that will start in 2022. The plan has been approved by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket). A decision has yet to be made as to which section of road will benefit from the technology, although it looks likely that this will either be between Norvik’s harbour and Västerhaninge or between Hallsberg and Örebro.
Various technologies are being considered for the route, including systems from local firm Evias and Elonrad and the joint Israeli-Swedish company Electreon. Evias has a pilot stretch of electric road in Arlanda, while Elonroad has set up a test stretch in Lund.
While construction will commence in 2022, the route is not expected to be ready for full use until 2025. Should the project prove as successful as hoped, the technology will then be utilised more widely from 2027.
Battery technology has improved considerably in current EVs, with range now far extended compared with previous generation vehicles. To this end, it is thought that the electric road systems may not be required as often for on-the-move charging as previously expected. However, the benefits of range extension by on-the-move charging will be advantageous for drivers. Estimates have still to be released on the numbers of EVs using an electrified road for the project to be commercially viable.
Having embedded technology for EV charging will not take the place of more conventional charging points, but will augment the overall charging network and will help improve range. This technology will also address the concerns of some drivers over EV range.
Tests of the 1.6km stretch in Visby using the Electreon system have proven successful. These have used a 40tonne truck equipped with five wireless receivers rated at 20kW apiece. The system has shown itself able to work even with the presence of snow and ice and further tests involving more vehicles that area also travelling at higher speeds are now being planned.
The patented technology developed by Evias uses an arm fitted underneath an EV to pick up power from a rail embedded in the road. The firm was established by engineer Josephine Adorelle, who previously worked on projects for Renault and Tesla.
