And in Sweden, they can deliver the world’s first permanently electrified road, which is therefore suitable for regular charging of electric vehicles. Almost 2,900 km of the country’s road network can be electrified by 2025.
An electric road system may first be built on the E20 motorway, which links Sweden’s major cities Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, but this is only the first step of a larger plan. In this case too, another essential question that must be decided before work begins is what type of electric road will be built.
Let’s add that the Swedes probably didn’t invent Spanish wax either. And although they claim to be the first in the world to do so, many similar initiatives have come to light in recent years, even in the form of the pantograph solution, which we also wrote about in Vezessen: in Hungarian, about how they can provide a continuous power supply on Some highways are through the overhead line system, which can be particularly useful for logistics.
Previously, three solutions were tried in the northern country. In 2016, a 2-kilometer road was electrified in the city of Gävle in the central region of the country, where the above-mentioned overhead wires were used, but this was only a solution for commercial vehicles. On the island of Gotland, freight coils were placed under the asphalt, thus ensuring power supply for a 1.6-kilometre section, while the freight rail operator’s solution was also tested in 2018 on a 2-kilometre section.
For the population as a whole, an inductive solution down the road would be really progressive, which works on a principle almost similar to wireless charging for cell phones – this has been tried in Germany and Michigan in the US. This will not only make it possible to increase the range, but it will also be possible to produce electric cars with smaller batteries, which will therefore become less expensive.
The researchers claim that to achieve maximum efficiency, it is sufficient to electrify 25 percent of the Swedish road network. the euronews She stated that Sweden is working with Germany and France on this issue by exchanging experiences and research results, while the United Kingdom is cooperating with the United States and India to redouble efforts to build electrified roads.