In Europe, the number of confirmed projects for electrified road systems reaches 11, spread across five countries.
The plans presented recently by Siemens, ElectReon, Elonroad, and Aleatica will be located in the nations of Germany, Sweden, Italy, France, and Norway, according to information published by Eamon Mulholland, Associate Researcher at The International Council on Clean Transportation.
This technology has gained great popularity in the region recently due to the advantages it offers to electric vehicle drivers.
This type of charging stands out for its efficiency in eliminating charging stations from the equation.
Thus, it allows for continuous and on-the-move charging.
Moreover, this process avoids manual intervention, because the vehicle simply receives energy while driving on the equipped road.
At the same time, the system represents an opportunity for the decentralization of charging infrastructure, as it allows deployment throughout the road.
This, in turn, means more flexibility for drivers.
In this regard, dynamic charging is also a space-efficient technology.
What are the confirmed projects? Below, Mobility Portal Europe lists the plans in the region for electrified roads.
Germany
The Bavarian country is the ultimate pioneer in the region when it comes to dynamic charging systems.
Currently, it already has three operational installations within its territory.
The first is the Siemens A1 eHighway, located in northern Germany, with a length of ten kilometers. It was built by the national industrial manufacturing company of the same name.
Then, the Siemens A5 eHighway is in the western part of the country and is 17 kilometers long.
Also noteworthy is the evWayBW, with a shorter deployment range of just 3.4 kilometers, also supplied by Siemens.
All routes feature catenary line technology, a system similar to that of trolleybuses.
Now, what are the future plans?
In the country, there are also two electrified roads currently undergoing testing.
One of them, with a length of two kilometers, is located at the Groß Dölln airbase in Templin.
This route employs multiple technologies, and it’s no surprise that Siemens is the predominant provider in the region.
Then, the smaller one to be inaugurated in the country, E-Charge, located in Cologne, is only 100 meters long.
This track features inductive charging, meaning the transfer is wireless.
While it represents an exception regarding the installing company, in this case, it’s ElectReon.
On the other hand, there are also two electrified roads already presented but still in the pre-production process.
Among them are Lkw-Innovationscluster and E-Highway Bayern. At the moment, there is no information on the providers and characteristics of these works.
Sweden
Currently, the Scandinavian country has only one operational electrified road.
It’s the EVolution Road Project Lund, located in the town of Lund.
With Elonroad AB as the supplier, this route is one kilometer long.
It operates using the conductive rail system, where the vehicle is charged from the track via a rail connected to the road.
For this project, the national government allocated close to nine million euros.
It’s worth noting that in Sweden, four projects were withdrawn, and there are currently no intentions to reactivate these plans.
Italy
In Italy, the Italy Arena del Futuro is in the testing phase, built by the company Aleatica.
It is located in Chiari, on the outskirts of Brescia, and half an hour from Milan, right next to the A35 highway, with a length of 1,050 meters.
Tests began months ago, and Stellantis announced that “the efficiency of energy transfer is comparable to fast charging stations.”
This circuit is equipped with a wireless system.
France
In French territory, the A10 ElectReon plan stands alone, to be built by the Israeli company of the same name.
The route will be two kilometers long and will feature an induction charging system.
It will be located southwest of Paris.
Norway
It is unusual that one of the countries with the highest percentage of electric fleets has not yet inaugurated its first electrified road.
However, plans are already in place.
With the company ElectReon, Norway announced the project for a road with wireless charging.
This project will be carried out in the town of Trondheim and will be 80 meters long.
