Sweden will build the world‘s first permanent electric highway, capable of charging moving cars and trucks, the Swedish transport administration has announced, Euronews reports.
It is a 21-kilometre section between the cities of Hallsberg and Örebro on the European route E20. The project is currently in the contracting phase and its construction is scheduled for 2025.
“We believe that electrification is the way forward to decarbonise the transport sector and we are working on various solutions,” said Jan Pettersson, Director of Strategic Development at the Swedish transport administration.
However, this is not the first time Sweden has built an electric highway. In 2018, the country inaugurated, as a pilot test, the world‘s first charging lane for electric vehicles on public roads, between Stockholm’s Arlanda airport and a logistics area in Rosersberg.
The world facing a “special challenge”
However, the recharging method has not yet been decided, since several aspects must be taken into account when designing a project of this magnitude, such as, for example, that the overhead cable catenary system can only be used for Heavy vehicles.
In this context, Pettersson argues that the world faces a “special challenge” of keeping heavy vehicles loaded. “If we’re just going to have a full battery static charging solution for heavy vehicles, we’re going to have vehicles with a huge number of batteries that the vehicles have to transport,” he said.
The inductive system seems more advantageous for private cars, since it includes special equipment buried under the road that sends electricity to a coil in the electric vehicle.
Zero CO2 emissions
In February, the European Parliament definitively approved the regulation that prohibits the sale of new diesel and gasoline cars and vans from 2035, a new milestone with which the EU intends to achieve zero CO2 emissions.
Amid the uncertainty caused by this measure, countries such as Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and India are rushing to prepare the necessary infrastructure for mobility without the use of fossil fuels.
Sweden plans to build 300 kilometers of electric roads by 2045. However, some experts say that it is not necessary to electrify all roads in the country; if it were done only in 25% it would be enough for the system to work.