Swedish consortium launches electrified road trial

A 2km stretch of road in Sweden has been embedded with an electrified rail as part of the latest trial by a consortium hoping to roll the technology out across the country.

The eRoadArlanda project sees DC energy transferred from a rail in the road to vehicles passing above using a movable arm. Sections of rail, which are connected to the grid, power up individually as vehicles travel over them. The arm detects the location of the rail and remains in contact as long as the vehicle is above.

When overtaking, the arm automatically retracts. The system is also able to calculate energy consumption so that customers can be billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. It is expected to operate only on primary roads, with vehicles relying on their batteries once they exit on to arterial routes.      

“One of the most important issues of our time is the question of how to make fossil-free road transportation a reality,” said Hans Säll, chairman of the eRoadArlanda consortium and business development director a Swedish construction company NCC.