Demonstration projects currently underway will test Electric Road Systems (ERS) along public roads and in real-life environments, addressing various legal, political, economic, and efficiency aspects of ERS. Public road tests provide decision makers and investors with a foundation for further investments that would bring ERS to commercial operation. At the time of writing, Sweden and Germany together represent the largest collection of real-world experiences in ERS: The Swedish Transport Administration has funded four demonstration projects along public roads in Sweden, and has also initiated planning of a full-scale ERS pilot. Similarly, in Germany there are two ongoing demonstration projects along public roads and the German federal government is funding the construction of one additional demonstration project. The purpose of this report is to report best practices from demonstrations of ERS technologies along public roads in Sweden, and procurement and the start of ERS demonstration projects in Germany. ; Swedish-German Research Collaboration on Electric Road Systems (CollERS)
Electric road systems (ERS) can reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector. The market-ready ERS drive systems are characterised by high energy efficiency and low operational costs compared to fossil fuels and biofuels for combustion engines. The introduction of ERS will depend on governmental support, balancing the overall need for GHG-reduction with the business perspectives of the transport market and the energy market. There is an urgent need to establish standards for core components and important interfaces in order to build confidence among potential ERS users. Since ERS will take time to scale up, we should begin to transform the electricity system to meet the demand for ERS while also meeting GHG reduction goals aligned with strong climate policies. There is a need to clarify whether an ERS system is part of the road infrastructure market or the energy market, and to define the role of the public sector in ERS deployment. Since a significant part of long-haul road freight transport is international, ERS deployment will benefit from cross-country cooperation. ; Swedish-German Research Collaboration on Electric Road Systems (CollERS)
The Swedish government has prioritized achieving a fossil fuel-independent vehicle fleet by 2030 which will require radical transformation of the transport industry. Electrifying the vehicle fleet forms an important part of this transformation. For light vehicles, electrification using batteries and charging during parking is already well advanced. For city buses, charging at bus stops and bus depots is being developed, but for heavy, long-distance road transport, batteries with enough capacity to provide sufficient range would be too cumbersome and too much time would have to be spent stationary for charging. One solution might be the introduction of electric roads, supplying the moving vehicle with electricity both to power running and for charging. In the longer term, this approach could also be used for light vehicles and buses. The objective of the Research and Innovation Platform for Electric Roads was to enhance Swedish and Nordic research and innovation in this field, this has been done by developing a joint knowledge base through collaboration with research institutions, universities, public authorities, regions, and industries. The work of the Research and Innovation Platform was intended to create clarity concerning the socioeconomic conditions, benefits, and other effects associated with electric roads. We have investigated the benefits from the perspectives of various actors, implementation strategies, operation and maintenance standards, proposed regulatory systems, and factors conducive of the acceptance and development of international collaborative activities. The project commenced in the autumn of 2016 and the main research continued until December 2019, the work during year 2020 has been focused on knowledge spread and coordination with the Swedish-Germany research collaboration on ERS (CollERS). The results of the Research and Innovation Platform have been disseminated through information meetings, seminars, and four annual international conferences. Reports have been published in the participating partners' ordinary publication series and on www.electricroads.org. The project was funded by Strategic Vehicle Research and Innovation (FFI) and the Swedish Transport Administration.
The present study aims at discussing relevant aspects for a potential roll-out of Electric Road Systems (ERS) on transnational corridors, as well as generally for ERS introduction in Europe. Feasibility criteria have thus been developed in order to assess the following topics for specific potential ERS corridor projects: Technical aspects: Which technical prerequisites exist for ERS corridors and to which extent can they expected to be met? Environmental aspects: Which effects can be expected on key environmental indicators? Economic aspects: Can an ERS corridor pose a business case? Could it contribute to the improvement of ERS economy in general? Political aspects: Would an ERS corridor implementation make sense from a political point of view? The developed criteria may serve as a toolbox for scrutinizing future transnational ERS corridor projects. In order to illustrate their application, we used them to analyse a potential roll-out of an Electric Road System on a selected highway corridor (424 km) connecting Sweden and Germany, but mainly located on Danish territory. Based on traffic flows and patterns along the corridor route, it was found: A considerable part of the total truck mileage on the corridor is done by vehicles with a rather limited driving distance for pre- and post-haul, assuming the corridor is realized as a stand-alone project, and the CO2 emissions (well-to-wheel) of truck traffic along the corridor route can be significantly reduced if electric trucks are powered by the national electricity mixes expected for the year 2030, and even more if it would be powered purely renewable. Although a continuous ERS on the complete corridor route would not be economically feasible under current conditions, the analysis pinpoints sections along the route where the traffic volumes with a sufficient share of operation on a potential ERS are significantly higher. These sections are located in the metropolitan areas of Malmö, Copenhagen and Hamburg. For implementation, peculiarities of the local markets and regulation should be considered, as well as country-specific priorities on decarbonizing road freight transport. Additionally, the identified ERS potential for medium distances will depend on the technical and cost development of battery trucks. Our analysis also sheds some light on the role of first transnational corridors within a European roll-out strategy for ERS. Such corridor projects could help to proof the principal strengths of ERS, trigger strategic coordination between the participating countries, foster national ERS roll-out due to synergy effects with the corridor and pave the way for integration of ERS into EU legislation (e.g. AFID, TEN-T planning) ; Swedish-German Research Collaboration on Electric Road Systems (CollERS)
