Road/Highway Electrification
Sweden has set a National target for the fossil-fuel independent transport sector to be in place by 2030. However, mileage from trucks and cars running on fossil fuels are continuously on the rise. For a cleaner environment, Biogas and biodiesel are expected to be used along certain parts of the transportation journey. While electric power run on batteries is a good option for smaller vehicles, heavier vehicles would require continuous and significantly more power for road transportation to work as it is today in 20 years time. Continous electricity supply to the road transportion network today can achieve that target in 20 years. Projektengagemang Energi & Klimatanalys is, on behalf of the Swedish Energy Agency and Svenska Elvägar AB has been appointed the project manager in an investigation that is to examine the possibility of operating heavy duty transportation vehicles on electricity from overhead power lines. The technology has been proven and is currently used for trains, trams and trolleybuses. The technical challenge however, is to develop a pantograph that automatically switches to and from the junctions, viaducts, etc as this would require a different set of infrastructure to facilitate this.
The project is now in a test phase, after which the implementation of a limited distance prototype will be carried out. With financial savings of around 30 Swedish Krona/mile, and substantial reduction of CO2 emissions with less noisy traffic, this is a good investment for businesses, other road users and the environment. The project is being funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, the Swedish Transport Administration, Vinnova and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).
For more information, contact:
Per Ranch
Projektengagemang Energi & Klimatanalys