Installation of the world's first wireless electric road for trucks and buses begins today
Visby, 191113
The Smartroad Gotland project will today install the first section of the world's first wireless electric road system (ERS) for trucks and buses on public roads. ERS supports electric power transfer to vehicle while in motion and have great potential to decarbonize the transport sector and to increase energy efficiency with a reduced need of batteries. Smartroad Gotland is supported and funded by the Swedish Road Administration and is led by ElectReon AB, a Swedish subsidiary of the Israeli company ElectReon Wireless. The goal of the project is to prove that ElectReon’s technology is ready for commercialization and to provide decision makers with knowledge necessary for large-scale ERS deployment.
Wireless ERS is based on coils installed below the road surface and transfer energy to a receiver that can be mounted on all types of electric vehicles such as trucks, buses, vans, and passenger cars, enabling them to charge on the go and use minimal batteries.
The installation deployment process is simple: a 10 cm deep trench is created in the middle of the road lane in which copper coils embedded in rubber are placed and then the road is repaved with asphalt. Representatives from several countries are present on Gotland to evaluate the process as they consider a future deployment of the technology.
The Smartroad Gotland project will start operations early 2020 with an electric truck and trailer. Before the summer the electric road will also charge and power an electric bus. Throughout the three year long project, the system performance and user experiences will be evaluated together with RISE Research Institute of Sweden.
ElectReon has developed a unique technological design with a high efficiency suitable for both dynamic and static charing. The solution also includes a real-time communication system to ensure safety, access control, and energy metering, and which also can support autonomous vehicles. Thereby, the solution offers a smart and cost effective way of enabling a transition towards electric road transportation without any visual impacts or need for mechanical contact and heavy maintenance.
“Today marks a very important milestone based on thorough preparations and a very dedicated team. A preparatory session was conducted on the ElectReon test site in Israel a month ago to train the team before this first deployment on public roads. I am glad that we are progressing according to plan and are now ready for Swedish climate and conditions.” – Håkan Sundelin, Project Manager, Smartroad Gotland
“We are very excited to deploy our technology for a real world application for the first time after proving that it is fully functional in our test site. As part of the process we are also shifting to mass production of our coils on the way to full commercialization of our technology.” – Oren Ezer, CEO, ElectReon Wireless
“So far this has been easier than we thought. It is great to be part of a project like this - the first of its kind. We are eager to learn and will bring all our best knowledge to make sure nothing goes wrong. This is an important project for Gotland, and we are happy to be part of this transition from the start.” – Dennis Silvén, COO, OSAB
“We believe this technology has potential to become a standard for roads in the future, and we want to use our skills to take it there. NCC has experience from other ERS solutions that will benefit the construction of the smart road in Gotland. The technology has shown impressive results already.” – Stefan Hörnfeldt, affärschef eRoad, NCC Infrastructure
How it works
The system consists of three key elements; the Coil transferring energy to a Receiver on the vehicle and a Management Unit connected to the grid controlling the process. The Management Unit is connected to the electric grid and transfer energy to copper coils buried 8 cm below the lane when a valid vehicle is exactly above. The energy is wirelessly transferred from the coil to a receiver mounted underneath the vehicle. The system makes sure only valid vehicles receives energy and keeps track of how much in order to bill the right customer. A passenger car needs one receiver and a 40-ton truck would use five, but utilizing the same infrastructure.
Partners of the Smartroad Gotland project
Caverion, Dan transport, Eitech, Electreon AB, Flygbussarna, GEAB, Gotland GPe Circuit AB, Gotlands Bilfrakt, Hutchinson, Matters Group, Eksjö Maskin & Truck, Region Gotland, NCC, OSAB, RISE, Science Park Gotland, Swedavia, Trafikverket, World Ecological Forum.
For more information, please visit www.smartroadgotland.com
Contact details:
Web: www.smartroadgotland.com
Email: smartroadgotland@electreon.com
More press images: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1q4e7MShkZ6HUH1mHA-RmJy18KfNFixIU
Communication related questions:
Communication director: Niclas Ihrén, Matters Group, 070-49 11 499, niclas.ihren@mattersgroup.se
Technical questions:
Project manager: Håkan Sundelin, Electreon AB, 0730-278 493, hakan@electron.com
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