Sweden has big plans for saving the planet and they’re already making some positive gains. As a country, they’ve set the ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 70% and being totally independent of fossil fuel by the year 2030.
eRoadArlanda[/caption] One way they’re hoping to accomplish this goal is with vehicle-charging electrified roads. Basically, they’re embedding electric conductors in the roads which constantly recharges electric cars that pass over the road. From The Guardian: The technology behind the electrification of the road linking Stockholm Arlanda airport to a logistics site outside the capital city aims to solve the thorny problems of keeping electric vehicles charged, and the manufacture of their batteries affordable.
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eRoadArlanda[/caption] Energy is transferred from two tracks of rail in the road via a movable arm attached to the bottom of a vehicle. The design is not dissimilar to that of a Scalextric track, although should the vehicle overtake, the arm is automatically disconnected. The electrified road is divided into 50m sections, with an individual section powered only when a vehicle is above it. When a vehicle stops, the current is disconnected. The system is able to calculate the vehicle’s energy consumption, which enables electricity costs to be debited per vehicle and user. The “dynamic charging” – as opposed to the use of roadside charging posts – means the vehicle’s batteries can be smaller, along with their manufacturing costs. A former diesel-fuelled truck owned by the logistics firm, PostNord, is the first to use the road.
eRoadArlanda[/caption] Hans Sall, the CEO of eRoadArlanda, which is overseeing the project, believes that electrifying the 12,500 miles of highway Sweden should be enough to go fully electric. “The distance between two highways is never more than 45km (28 miles) and electric cars can already travel that distance without needing to be recharged. Some believe it would be enough to electrify 5,000km (3,106 miles),” he said.
Joakim Kröger/eRoadArlanda[/caption] For those worried about electrocution from touching the tracks, Sall said, “here is no electricity on the surface. There are two tracks, just like an outlet in the wall. Five or six centimetres down is where the electricity is. But if you flood the road with salt water then we have found that the electricity level at the surface is just one volt. You could walk on it barefoot.” So far, just over a mile of road has been constructed, but the Swedish government has a map and plans to cover the entire nation.