Sweden builds charging highway to charge while driving!

The Swedish Transport Agency is still discussing whether to use conductive or inductive charging systems on this road. Conductive charging systems use built-in plates to wirelessly charge the cars above (kind of like wireless chargers for smartphones), while inductive systems will send power via underground cables to pickup coils inside each car. Neither option has a negative impact on gasoline-powered vehicles traveling on the same roads.

Electrified roads offer many advantages, such as eliminating the need to stop and clog charging stations, and allowing electric cars using small batteries to travel further. Research shows this technology could reduce the size of electric vehicle batteries by up to 70%. “Electrification solutions are one of the ways forward for the transport sector to achieve its decarbonisation goals,” said Jan Pettersson of the Swedish Transport Administration.

In fact, Sweden and even Northern Europe have been pioneers in electrified road testing and have already trialled three leading solutions. In 2016, the central city of Gävle opened a two-kilometre stretch that uses overhead wires to charge heavy vehicles via pantographs, similar to electric trains or city trams. Later, a 1.6-kilometer section of the road in Gotland was electrified using charging coils buried under the road asphalt. In 2018, the world's first charging rail was launched on a 2km stretch of road, allowing electric trucks to lower a mobile arm to draw electricity.