Sustainable Business Hub

Evolution Road – the Next Generation Electric Roads

In the Evolution Road project, the next generation of ERS (Electric Road System) is being demonstrated and tested at a test site in Lund. ERS provides a charging infrastructure for all kinds of electric vehicles – with benefits such as longer driving range, seamless charging and reduced need for heavy batteries.

In order for the transition to fossil-free and electric vehicles to take place, and to reach climate goals, we need accessible and efficient charging infrastructures for electric vehicles. The idea of modern ERS emerged 20 years ago, inspired by the benefits of continuous energy supply to trolley buses. The ERS of today is a charging infrastructure that auto charges most types of electric vehicles both during driving and when they are parked, with benefits such as extended driving range and reduced need of large, heavy batteries in the vehicles.

Aiming for fossil-free road transports

In the Evolution Road project, a conductive ground mounted ERS is implemented, tested and demonstrated on a road stretch of one kilometre at Getingevägen in Lund. The purpose is to obtain increased knowledge about electric roads and their potential to be part of a future fossil-free transportation system.

The new generation of ground mounted and smart ERS enables a number of sustainability benefits – environmental, economic and social:
• Charging while driving, which eliminates the need for downtime to recharge.
• Reduced battery sizes by 50–80 per cent, which reduces environmental impact and cost.
• Energy efficiency, enabling lighter vehicles with smaller batteries.
• Charging of most types of electric vehicles: cars, trucks, utility vehicles and buses.

Collaboration through private-public partnership

The project has been commissioned by the Swedish Transport Administration and is made possible through a private-public partnership involving a broad range of actors: Elonroad AB, Innovation Skåne AB, Kraftringen Energi AB, Lund Municipality, Faculty of Engineering at Lund University, Ramboll, Skånetrafiken, Solaris Sverige AB and the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI.

The research and results from the Evolution Road project will hopefully contribute to the development of a smarter and more sustainable way to use electric vehicles to enable fossil-free transport systems.

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