World's first electrically designed road opens in Sweden for charging electric vehicles

On the periphery of Stockholm, Sweden, the first ever public road with the ability to simultaneously charge electric vehicles has opened, spanning 2km from Arlanda airport to the Roserberg logistics centre. Electric trucks designed as part of the running project will be the first vehicles to utilise it. The expenditure to electrify the roads in this way is $1.23 million per km – this is approximately 50 times cheaper than an urban tram line development.

By using an adjustable ‘arm’ connected under a vehicle, electricity is carried from the middle of the lane from two metal rails (much like a slot car track). When driven over, the ‘arm’ will detect the metal rails and slot into place, and automatically disconnect when the vehicle path is changed. eRoadArlanda (the consortium in charge of the project) have stated that electricity on the surface is just a single volt, assuring that there is no safety risk when wet (even when flooded with saltwater).

Sweden has a plan to reduce transport sector fossil fuel use by 70% by 2030 and is currently 3rd in the world after Norway and Netherlands in terms of percentage electric car sales. As opposed to building new roads explicitly for EVs, part of their strategy is to add charging systems to existing ones - this new advancement has catalysed their plan of electrifying thousands of kilometres of public roads.

The chief executive of eRoadArlanda, Hans Säll, stated that, “Electrifying the 20,000km of highways in Sweden will definitely be sufficient. The distance between two highways is never greater than 45km and EVs can already travel that distance without needing a recharge. It is thought that electrifying just 5,000km would actually be enough." He continued "One of the most important issues of our time is the question of how to make fossil-free road transportation a reality. We now have a solution that will make this possible, which is amazing. Sweden is at the cutting edge of this technology, which we now hope to introduce in other areas of the country and the world."

(Article published by www.gearbrain.com on 13th April 2018)