New project aims to improve charging for electric heavy trucks

The transport industry in Sweden accounts for a significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions. Experts say electrification of transportation is crucial in the fight against climate change. A new project intends to develop and install a scalable concept to improve charging for heavy transport vehicles.

Four Swedish organizations are leading the way on this project, which received funding from Vinnova; Greenfood, Elonroad, Öresundkraft and Lund University of Technology. Their goal is to boost knowledge about designs for charging heavy transport at logistics terminals.

“Cross-industry collaborations enable us to achieve an even higher rate of innovation,” Elonroad CEO Karin Ebbinghaus said.

Elonroad develops and manufactures electric road systems that enables automatic charging, both while stationary at terminals and while traveling. The company says their system enables longer range, lower power output, load balancing, and the need for smaller batteries in electric vehicles.

“Our charging rails are an important complement for the transport sector to be able to adapt faster, without sacrificing either uptime or load capacity,” Ebbinghaus said.

Reliable transport especially important for food industry

The transport sector is especially important to the food industry, because fresh food requires quick and efficient deliveries. It means there’s high demand on climate-friendly charging infrastructure to allow companies a high utilization rate of their vehicle fleets.

“In order for the food industry to be able to reduce emissions from transport, an efficient charging concept is required that can be installed at logistics terminals,” Anna Klenell, Greenfood Fresh Produce’s Project Manager and Sustainability Manager, said.

Klenell says the first step will be testing and evaluating Elonroad’s charging concept. That process will take place at Greenfood’s new facility in Helsingborg, which is where the company is building a food and logistics center.

The concept will then be rolled out to more Greenfood facilities and other logistics terminals.

The Swedish government says greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector account for one-third of all emissions in Sweden. The country’s goal is to be at net zero emissions by 2045, and negative emissions afterwards.

“This is another step in the transition to a sustainable transport system,” Öresundkraft Project Manager Håkan Zaar said. “Together we will develop a cost-effective and smooth way to charge the trucks — a way that suits the drivers and hauliers, the hauliers’ customers and the electricity grid owners.”