The solution for road transport
Having a widely established charging infrastructure for electric vehicles has the potential to cut carbon emissions by up to 90% compared with running vehicles only on fossil fuel.
An optimum mix of stationary charging (primarily in urban environments) and dynamic charging (outside urban environments) significantly reduces the need for large and expensive batteries in all types of electric vehicle. Currently, around half the cost of a fully electric car comes down to the batteries.
Sweden has over 400,000 km of roads in total. Calculations suggest that having dynamic charging (electrified roads) on 3,000 to 5,000 km of the roads most used by heavy goods vehicles would halve the total emissions of greenhouse gases from such vehicles in Sweden.
Sweden a world leader in electrified roads
Sweden leads the world in the science of electrified roads and building test tracks with different technical solutions.
The Swedish Transport Administration launched the first precommercial procurement of research into electrified roads in 2013, and in 2017 a national roadmap was drawn up for electrified roads.
The world’s first two test tracks using different technologies for dynamic charging of heavy goods vehicles on public roads have been in operation outside Sandviken (Elväg Gävle) and Arlanda (eRoadArlanda) for some time now, and work is currently underway on another two test tracks – one outside Visby (SmartRoad Gotland) and one in Lund (EVolutionRoad).
Government sets up an Electrification Commission
At Government level and via the Swedish Transport Administration, Sweden has initiated a range of international collaborations on electrified roads in recent years, particularly with Germany and France.
October 2020 saw the Government establish an Electrification Commission for transport, with a mandate to promote the funding of and business models for expediting the power supply to electrified roads and rapid charging infrastructure.
The Swedish Transport Administration has been tasked with planning an expansion of electrified roads along the national road network, with a view to halving emissions of greenhouse gases from heavy goods transport under the target to electrify 2,000 km of roads by 2030 and a further 1,000 km by 2035. At the same time, the Administration will be analyzing the need for charging infrastructure for the rapid charging of heavy goods vehicles along major highways.
