A study run by researchers at the SustainTrans group @ BTH show that we should not wait for electric roads. Opt instead for fast chargers to shift towards fossil-free vehicle fleet by 2030.
In the debate, electric roads are highlighted as a promising alternative for large-scale rationalization of transport. The focus has often been on heavy goods traffic but also the ability to charge cars have been mentioned.
This new unique BTH-lead study has done the most comprehensive comparison of electric roads, and fast charging systems has the greatest potential to reduce the environmental impact of transport and costs during the systems life cycles. The study was conducted by Jesko Schulte as a master’s thesis at Linnaeus University and partly supervised by Henrik Ny as a research project within the GreenCharge project. The thesis has during 2015 won two awards – Sparbanksstiftelsen Kronan as one of the best nine master thesis and Ramböll consultancy environmental Scholarship for best thesis.
– We should not wait for electric roads. Fast chargers have to begin a scale up to develop the vehicle fleet in time to 2030. Although electric roads or other solutions might win in the long run, we should invest in fast chargers today. This could lead to increased shares in the global market for electric vehicle systems, which are expected to grow rapidly due to increasing pressure on the transport sector to drastically decrease environmental impact, according to lead researcher Dr. Henrik Ny at BTH.
The study notes that electric road systems are very early in their development, and might, in the best case, be ready for a full-scale implementation 10-15 years ahead. It is though clear that only 10% of private cars today run so far (over 150 km) on a daily basis that they require an extra charge. In a near future when the charging network has expanded, fast chargers will enable long distance travelling. A major environmental benefit, however, seems to be possible with electric roads. They allow greater carbon savings per invested krona (about 3 kg CO2 / kr) than fast chargers (about 0.6 kg CO2 / kr). A disadvantage of electric roads is that they require a lock-in of large financial resources for three times as long as their expected life-time (about 60 years), while the fast chargers last for about 20 years.
Check out the thesis at publications.
Leave A Comment