Completion for pioneering electric road project
For five years, the project Evolution Road tested conductive electric road technology at Getingvägen in Lund. Here, first a bus but also other transport, for example a passenger car, has tested charging on the fly by contacting a rail in the roadway. One day at the end of May 2024, it was suddenly over, and in a matter of hours, project managers took off Innovation Skåne and the technology provider Elonroad Remove the rails from the road. Project Manager Maria Edgren — is it sad that it's over?
Actually, it doesn't. I am happy to close the book for a successful project and that the client Swedish Transport Administration indicates that they are very satisfied. I am proud of what we and our partners have accomplished.
There are a number of actors involved in the project. In addition to Innovation Skåne and Elonroad participate Kraftringen Energi AB, Lund Municipality, Lund University of Technology, Ramboll, Skånetrafiken, Solaris Sweden AB as well as State Road and Transport Institute VTI. Future by Lund was involved in the early stages of the electric road works by writing an initial application and starting a partnership.
- There has been a very good collaboration between business, the public sector and universities, continues Maria Edgren. Together we have come up with a lot of knowledge and have met with great national and international interest. We've had a lot of politicians and about a hundred visits, most recently it was a governor from New Mexico. It's fun that innovative Lund got this project because here is an open climate and there is a curiosity to try new things. In addition, we experience that the municipality of Lund finds it fun to have companies that test,” continues Maria Edgren.
Evolution Road has been running for a total of five years. Innovation Skåne has been the responsible partner, from the beginning with Per Löfberg as project manager. Maria Edgren joined as project coordinator in 2022 and became project manager in 2023.
- We at Innovation Skåne are proud that we were able to implement this. It is an innovation project with all the uncertainties, but also a very fun project in which I have had to do many different things, such as being an actor in a film that we made but also organizing a conference with a hundred international guests,” says Maria Edgren.
What are the conclusions after the project?
- We see that the electric road can bring great benefits to society and that our work has provided additional knowledge on how to create a fossil-free transport system. Charging vehicles on the fly saves time and, in addition, could significantly reduce the battery size in the vehicles.
What's the next step?
- We restore the road and hand over a final report to the Swedish Transport Administration, and after that the ball lies with them. Technology provider Elonroad has installed electric road in various places and is now doing a test pilot on a motorway in France and in June they are due to build electric road in Belgium. They have many new projects and there is a lot of interest in their technology, even for stationary charging in ports, for example,” concludes Maria Edgren.
Facts about Evolution Road
The mission of the project was to test and demonstrate electric road. The aim was to create more knowledge about electric roads and investigate the potential for electric roads as a complement in a future fossil-free transport system.
In 2019, the Swedish Transport Administration commissioned the consortium and the Evolution Road project to test and demonstrate electric road technology from the company Elonroad. By investigating the use, construction, operation, maintenance and how electric roads can contribute to reducing the impact of climate emissions from heavy traffic, the Swedish Transport Agency wanted to gain more knowledge about the innovative electric road technology.
The technology is developed by the Swedish company Elonroad in collaboration with Lund University of Technology. During the project, it has been tested to charge an electric bus through conductive technology but also other electric vehicles such as an electric car via a rail in the road.
The first variant of the electric road was assembled in the spring of 2020 and consisted of a rail that was glued to the road. In 2021, a submerged version was milled down into the roadway. The elevated version is better suited in cities where you drive at low speeds, and the lowered version can be used on the highway at higher speeds. Over the course of the project, Elonroad has developed the technology further.
The test distance has been about 850 meters.
Conclusions and observations
Both putting the rails in place and removing them again go in a few hours after the electrical connection is prepared. The rail laid on the road is glued while the submerged rail is milled into the asphalt, and when it is removed again, of course, it needs to be paved. The rails are made of aluminum and can be recycled.
Electric roads use existing roads and do not require additional space. Current electric vehicles need to be modified to cope with being charged off the road.
A combination of electric roads and charging stations means that you can reduce the battery size but also the number of fast charging stations.
According to Evolution Road's calculations, a bus that drives and recharges for 1 km can then drive on the charge for 3 kilometers.
Peak power output has been 280 kW, but this is limited by the feeder station, not the electric road. The test shows that conductive technology provides the high power output needed for heavy vehicles such as buses and trucks to be able to charge batteries.
From the start there were fears from motorcycle drivers that the rails would pose problems for them. Therefore, friction in the contact surface of the rail was increased. No accidents have been reported due to lack of friction.
In order to carry out winter tests with snow, a piece of electric road was installed in Kramfors. The test showed that the electric road also works in winter conditions and that it is possible to plow without problems on the lowered version of the electric road.
The electric road has led to a lot of new research and several degree projects at LTH.
RISO and Jakob Rogstadius has helped to make a report on charging infrastructure. The report covers, among other things, what is needed in order to proceed with electric roads. The report was presented during a conference organized by Evolution Road in early 2024 with one hundred Swedish and international guests.
The final report will be submitted in the last week of May 2024.
Quote from Evolution Road's press release
“We at Trafikverket are very pleased with the results delivered from the project. Together we have learned a lot during the years that the project has been going on and it has created a valuable knowledge base for the continued work with electric roads both in Sweden and internationally. The knowledge will pave the way for the development towards fossil-free transport of the future,” says Sofia Magnusson, project manager, Trafikverket.
“The Evolution Road project has been a fantastic pilot project for Elonroad and paved the way for us to now build the world's first electric motorway outside Paris. By integrating charging technology directly into the road, we can reduce the demands on large batteries and the need to stop to charge, increasing efficiency for heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks and buses, among others. The cooperation with the partner companies and the support from the Swedish Transport Administration has been crucial to the success of the project and I would like to thank everyone involved,” says Karin Ebbinghaus, CEO of Elonroad.
-This project is a fantastic example of how we as a municipality can test innovative solutions in real life. We see this as a solution for the future as we move towards a more electrified vehicle fleet, especially in the larger cities. Lund Municipality aims to be climate-neutral by 2030, and then all solutions are needed to reach the target,” says Adam Sandgren, Business Manager, Lund Municipality.
“We are proud of the Evolution Road project, which has been a very successful innovation project where collaboration between academia, private industry and public partners has been key to its success. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to and participated in the project,” says Maria Edgren, project manager, Innovation Skåne.