Sweden has chosen to create history by constructing the world’s first permanently electric road in 2025. The electric road system (ERS) will allow EVs to recharge while driving, allowing them to travel longer distances between charge station visits.
The E20 highway was chosen because it runs through the heart of Sweden’s major cities, Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It will be the first step in a larger plan that would see over 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) of Swedish highways converted to electric vehicles. There’s only one tiny issue: they haven’t decided which sort of electric road the first motorway will feature.
Sweden has been a pioneer in electrified road testing, having already tested three prominent options. A two-kilometre (1.2-mile) section of road in Gävle, central Sweden, was constructed in 2016 that utilised overhead electric wires to allow heavy trucks to recharge through pantographs, similar to an electric train or tram. Later, a 1.6-kilometer (0.9-mile) length of road in Gotland was electrified by installing charge coils beneath the asphalt. Trafikverket developed the world’s first charging rail on a two-kilometre (1.2-mile) section in 2018, allowing electric vehicles to drop a moving arm that gathered up electricity.
While overhead power lines are only used for trucks, if an inductive under-road charging system is constructed, there may be some benefits for individuals who own private automobiles. This technology functions similarly to Qi wireless charging in mobile phones. A pad or plate is implanted beneath the road, and electric cars with receiving coils are charged as they pass over it. Similar services have been tested in Germany and Michigan.
You don’t have to own an EV to appreciate how useful having the option to charge on the fly would be. Not only would the technique increase an electric vehicle’s usable range, but it might also lead to cheaper EVs due to smaller batteries.
According to the experts, just 25% of Sweden’s road network would need to be electrified in order to provide the most efficient choice. According to Euro News, Sweden has teamed with Germany and France to share expertise and research discoveries, while the United Kingdom, the United States, and India are also stepping up their efforts to build electrified highways.
