2023-06-04 22:00:00
In Sweden, roads will be electrified from 2025. E-trucks are to be charged on a 21-kilometer stretch of motorway.
It is well known that Scandinavian countries such as Norway, Denmark and Sweden are far ahead of the rest of Europe when it comes to converting to electromobility. Comprehensive charging points in public parking lots and in multi-storey car parks have been part of the usual picture in the far north for a number of years, as have countless electric cars on the streets. The laws were also amended at an early stage in order to make it as easy, cheap and convenient as possible for drivers to switch to locally emission-free mobility. According to the current legal situation, the tax rate for electric cars in Norway is less than 50 percent of the tax on comparable petrol or diesel engines. After all, the purchase does not include VAT of 25 percent. In addition, tolls and parking fees are lower in many places. Subsidies for hybrid cars, on the other hand, have already expired.
Spectacular e-road pilot project in Sweden
Although the privileges, which have been in force for years, are now being criticized – the Scandinavian governments say they want to push ahead with the traffic turnaround, but not replace the combustion engine one-to-one with electric cars – a spectacular pilot project is now being planned in Sweden: a 21-kilometer long section of the E20 between Hallsberg and Örebro to be upgraded to an E-Road. The highway runs between Sweden’s two largest cities, Stockholm and Gothenburg.
The specific goal of the Swedish transport authority Trafikverket is the permanent electrification of the route section so that e-vehicles can charge themselves while driving. Preparations for the construction of the test track have been underway since 2020, and the model project is currently in the procurement and final planning phase.
Technology for self-charging the batteries still unclear
However, it is still unclear which technology will be used to charge the batteries. There are three options to choose from: With conductive charging via cable, the vehicles are connected to power cables that are stretched over the road. This method is known from trams or the Salzburg trolleybuses. However, this technology has the disadvantage that it is relatively expensive to build. In addition, detailed questions are still unclear. For example, how the difference in height between trucks and cars should be compensated for using cables. With another possibility of conductive charging, the power supply takes place via a line in or on the floor. The principle is the same as that of the conductor rail of a subway. A type of rod or arm on the side or on the floor of the vehicle might serve as a pantograph for trucks and cars. With inductive charging, magnetic coils are embedded in the ground. Following the example of the wireless charging of smartphones, vehicles would also need built-in coils with this technology in order to charge the battery while driving.
From 2016 to date, the Swedish Transport Authority has already tested all three charging technologies in different parts of the country, including Lund, Gotland and Sandviken. The focus is on commercial vehicles for which conductive charging via overhead lines is the only option. According to calculations by the Swedish government, just switching heavy transport between the three largest cities would save 1.2 million tons of CO2 per year. But even in cars, charging while driving might make the battery 70 percent smaller in the future, and the load on the power grid would be better distributed throughout the day. The country therefore wants to electrify 2,000 kilometers of public roads by the end of the decade. From 2030, no new vehicles with internal combustion engines will be registered in Sweden.
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