
Elvägen I - Test bed Örtofta
In Örtofta, north of Lund, a test track was built to test how electric vehicles can charge the electric car during the journey. The idea was to be able to connect to the system on the fly and that with the new charging system you could have smaller batteries and still drive longer distances without having to stop.
The company Elonroad built together with Lund University a 200 metre long test bed in Örtofta north of Lund. The track was ready for demonstration in the spring of 2017. The Swedish Energy Agency contributed 12 million SEK. Even Volvo, The power ring Future by Lund supported the project.
It was on the Kraftringen area in Örtofta that the Lunda company Elonroad tried charging an electric car using a rail that was fixed in sections on the roadway asphalt. The vision was to be able to connect and disconnect the system at high speed with many different types of electric vehicles. The vehicle was connected to the rail by a connector located underneath the vehicle. The rails were light and quick to install but still had little impact on the asphalt. The idea was that the vehicles could easily drive on roads without charging rails, or at junctions and roundabouts, by automatically switching over to battery operation. The charging rail becomes active when covered by the vehicle, and this makes the rail safe even in urban environments.
The cost of the electric road is estimated to be 0.6 million euros/kilometer. A preliminary estimate on the part of the project was that, in the 10-year term, the cost of the electric road would have been recouped if fuel costs with and without the electric road were taken into account. The systems are called Electric Road System and are abbreviated ERS.
Test bed Hertofta
Project partners: Elonroad, Lund University, Volvo, Kraftringen, Future by Lund
The track was ready for demonstration in the spring of 2017.
Financier: The Swedish Energy Agency
Project grants: SEK 12 million
See also the video on e-Mobility below.