Electric Road: For A Green Future

The biggest advantage is of course reduction of the dependence on fossil fuels and achievement of the climate sustainability goals. The vehicle electrification industry is growing fast and with its environmental, social and cost benefits, it will play an important role in the transition to a fossil-free transport system.

Meaning of an electric road or highway

An electric road, variously called an electric highway or eroad or electric road system, is a dedicated road for electric vehicles. Power is supplied to the vehicles travelling on it through overhead power lines or ground level power supply or inductive coils embedded on the road. Overhead power lines are meant for commercial vehicles, Other vehicles can make use of ground level power supply through power metering and billing systems. In fact the ground level conductive rails are considered to be very cost-effective.

South Korea and Sweden are doing pioneering work in developing electric highways. The former first implemented an induction-based public electric road with a commercial bus line in 2013 after testing an experimental shuttle service in 2009. The latter, on the other hand, is exploring various electric road technologies to develop a national electric road system, the planning of which it expects to complete by 2033. At present Germany has the world's longest electric highway running into 109 kilometres.

In India, the Delhi-Mumbai highway is expected to be EV (electric vehicle) ready by March, 2023. The government will incur an expenditure of Rs 2.5 lakh crore on the electric highway, which will be a shot in the arm for the increased use of EVs on the roads.

Advantages of electric highways

The biggest advantage is of course reduction of the dependence on fossil fuels and achievement of the climate sustainability goals. The vehicle electrification industry is growing fast and with its environmental, social and cost benefits, it will play an important role in the transition to a fossil-free transport system.

When developed, the electric highway between India's national capital and financial capital Mumbai will facilitate plying of trolley trucks by trolleybus and heavy vehicle owners.

Technology of eroads

Siemens eHighway overhead power lines on Bundesautobahn 5 in Germany TRL (formerly Transport Research Laboratory) lists three power delivery types for dynamic charging, or charging while the vehicle is in motion: overhead power lines, and ground level power through rail or induction. TRL lists overhead power as the most technologically mature solution which provides the highest levels of power, but the technology is unsuitable for non-commercial vehicles. Ground-level power is suitable for all vehicles, with rail being a better option with high transfer of power and easily accessible and inspected elements. Inductive charging delivers the least power and requires more roadside equipment than the alternatives.  

Business model

The Swedish Transport Administration anticipates that a national electric road network would require interfaces between several players: the electricity supplier, the power grid company, the vehicle manufacturer, the road owner, the electric road technology operator, the metering and billing provider, and the user of the electric road. The ownership model can vary: the power grid company may own the secondary roadside electrical substations that power the electric road infrastructure or they may be owned by other players, and the power reading and payment system may be owned by a player separate from the infrastructure operator.

History of electric routes

Overhead power lines have been used for road transport since at least 1882 in Berlin with Werner von Siemens's trolley buses. Over 300 trolley bus systems were in operation in 2018. Power to trolley buses is normally delivered using a pair of trolley poles positioned on top of the vehicle which extends to the overhead power lines. Implementations for highway vehicles have been developed in the late 2000s and 2010s,  but they are not suitable for non-commercial vehicles such as passenger cars.  

Ground-level power supply in the form of electrified rails is similar to overhead power lines in implementation. Instead of an arm or pole extending to overhead power lines, a mechanical arm extends from the bottom of the vehicle and aligns with a rail embedded in the road. The rail is then powered, and power is transferred through the arm to the vehicle. Ground-level power supply is considered aesthetically preferable to overhead wires and it is suitable for all types of vehicles.  

The concept of a wireless ground-level power supply for vehicles was first patented in 1894. A static-charging system for shuttle buses was demonstrated in New Zealand in 1996. Similar systems have been implemented by Conductix-Wampfler and Bombardier PRIMOVE, which were later developed from static charging at bus stations to dynamic charging while driving.  

The Electric Roads Scene Now

Development of electronic road systems has grown significantly from the late 1990s through the 2010s.   Several companies have developed and implemented electric road systems in the 2010s.  

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology launched in 2009 a shuttle service with wireless dynamic charging through inductive coils embedded in the road. In 2013 OLEV launched a bus line in the city of Gumi. Another bus line was launched in Sejong in 2015, and two more bus lines were added in Gumi in 2016.

The Swedish Transport Administration commenced an electric road project in June 2013. The project involved pre-commercial procurement for the development of electrified roads, which is meant to generate decision data about platforms for electric roads in Sweden, and initiate the creation of a fossil-fuel free transportation infrastructure by 2030. The Swedish transport administration expects to finish the project's assessment phase and begin formulation of the national electric road network by 2022.

Assessment phase

A report generated by TRL in association with the Swedish Transport Administration listed available electric road systems, of which KAIST OLEV, Siemens eHighway, Elways, Elonroad, Bombardier PRIMOVE, and Electreon were found to be the most commercial-ready, with OLEV and eHighway already possessing a complete system in 2018. The project funded electric roads with overhead power lines, and ground-level conductive rails and inductive coils.

Overhead power lines were first tested through the project, using Siemens eHighway technology. The road was opened in June 2016 in Sandviken municipality near Gavle in central Sweden. A 2-kilometre stretch of the E16 motorway was fitted with trolley wires 5.4 metres above its surface, which supply power at 750 volts DC. Trolleytrucks can connect the power pickups, mounted on mechanical arms or trolley poles, while driving under the wires. The trolley poles allow for a degree of lateral movement, but if the lorry is steered into the outside lane, the trolley poles are lowered automatically and the lorry switches to battery or diesel power. The system is capable of delivering 500 kW of power and has a maintenance period of 20 years.