2023-05-16 04:30:26
Imagine you are on one of our long highways in your EV and suddenly you notice that your vehicle is low on battery power. Wouldn’t it be great to have porters along the way so you don’t get caught off guard?
This is the proposal that is being tested in Sweden. The Scandinavian country has been carrying out tests to electrify 20 km of the E20 highway, which connects Hallsberg to Örebro. The project foresees the total electrification of the road by 2025.
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Who is taking care of the novelty is the local transport administrator, Trafikverket. However, she continues to evaluate the best technology to be implemented in the stretch. There are three possibilities:
- Catenary: elevated cables connected to the pantograph (device on top of the vehicle, which receives energy);
- Ground feeding;
- Inductive power supply from the ground.
Check out the difference between each technology below:
catenary feed
The catenary form of electrification is common among trolleybuses and trams, for example. In this way, the E20 could only carry this type of vehicle. The other systems, however, could support smaller vehicles.
ground feeding
This type of electrification transfers energy through rails installed above or below the paving, supported by a mechanical arm.
induction power
Induction technology requires that conductive coils be installed on the road and on vehicles passing over it.
The three systems have been tested with praise in Sweden, more specifically with public transport vehicles. But since 2018, designers have been analyzing and testing technologies to be able to operate with light vehicles.
Much more than just a load
But anyone who thinks that the only benefit offered by an electrified highway is to charge the vehicles that pass through it is wrong. A study carried out by the Chalmers University of Technology attests that such installations can reduce the demand that the electrical grid needs to supply during peak usage by charging vehicles at home.
This is because, normally, the peak load is at night, naturally overloading the network. Charging spaced and steadily throughout the day would alleviate the demand quite a bit.
There is also the expectation that charging an EV while crossing an electrified highway will allow a reduction of up to 70% of the batteries used, meaning less rare mineral resources exploited, lower cost and more accessible EVs.
In addition to Sweden, at least five other countries are studying and testing the viability of this technology: the United Kingdom, the United States, Israel, Italy and Germany.
With information from Chalmers e PopSci
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