World's first battery-charging road opens in Sweden

This week (April 11), eRoadArlanda, the world’s first ‘electrified road’ that can recharge the batteries of cars and trucks as they drive on it, was opened near Stockholm, Sweden.

The road, which is 2km (1.2 miles) long, is divided into 50m (164ft) sections and each individual section is powered only when a vehicle is above it.

A movable arm attached to the underside of each vehicle enables energy to be transferred from two tracks of rail in the road surface to a vehicle’s battery.

“It has been very exciting to see this grow and we have plans for more to come,” said Sofia Lundberg, project manager of eRoadArlanda and deputy research director at the Swedish National Roads and Transport Research Institute (VTI).

“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 at sustainable solutions company NCC. “We now have a solution that will make this possible, which is amazing. Sweden is at the cutting edge of this technology, which we hope to introduce to other areas of the country and the world.”

The project is run by a consortium comprised of the following partners: Elways, NCC, PostNord, ABT-bolagen, Vattenfall, DAF, KTH, Kilenkrysset, VTI, E-traction, GCT, KTH, Bilprovningen, Airport City Stockholm, Sigtuna kommun, Swedavia, Arlanda Stad Holding, TraningPartner, FirstHotel, Frost Produktion, SMM Dulevo och Sandströms Elfirma.

source: traffictechnologytoday