Case study: Electric road – The future of transportation
TKE is involved in a Electric road project for the future
The future of transportation is electric road. In the future many of the vehicles on our roads will be driven by electricity.
TKE is pleased to announce that we are involved in a project where the road will have an electrical rail to charge different vehicles that are using the road.
Company Elways AB in Solna, Sweden
Elways AB in Solna, Sweden develops a system that allows electric road vehicles to charge while driving, rather than having to stop and charge at a stationary location. This eliminates the present limitation of batteries and increases the range of electric vehicles. By electrifying main roads with the Elways solution, electric vehicles will operate more efficiently than current vehicles, both petrol and electric, as they will neither need to stop for charging nor stop to refuel. Electrical roads also lower the carbon dioxide emissions.
New technology involving a movable power collector arm
A new technology developed by Elways is involving a movable power collector arm to a truck which will detect and lower the arm to the electric rail in the road and charge the battery by conductive electricity transfer.
TKE is helping Elways with control system
For detecting the rail and controlling the movable power collector arm. The control-system consist of a mobile PLC and sensors which are controlled by CAN. CAN protocols CANopen and J1939 are used in combination and this has been the TKE part to apply. The project is also involving TKE partner company in Sweden, Indizio Solutions AB from Umeå.
Nineteen approved patents
Elways has applied for twenty Swedish patents of which nineteen so far has resulted in approved patents. Furthermore, Elways also has seventeen PCT applications and thirty-nine non Swedish national applications of which twenty are approved. The patents and patent applications cover the system and the various solutions that are needed to achieve conductive feeding of vehicles while driving.
Approved and published patents are:
- Detection of rail
- Cleaning of the track
- The contact
- Movable arm beneath the vehicle
- Snow plough
- Design of the rail
200 m test road in Sweden
As a conclusion, a 200m road for testing purposes has been built in Arlanda. Test results have been good even in winter conditions.
