ElectReon, a supplier of in-road wireless electric vehicle (EV) charging technology for commercial vehicles, public vehicles and passenger cars, has launched a fully functional bus that uses the company’s wireless charging infrastructure in the city of Visby on Gotland, Sweden. The Smartroad Gotland project, carried out by a consortium of partners, started its operations at the beginning of 2020 and is one of four electric road demonstration projects currently funded by the Swedish Transport Administration, the Swedish Transport Administration.

After supporting R&D programs for electrical road systems (ERS) for over a decade, Sweden is a pioneer in running several ERS demonstration projects in preparation for large-scale all-commercial pilots with the goal of reducing emissions and utilizing existing infrastructure and enabling cooperation between authorities, industry, universities and politics in a cost-effective way.

After completing the first part of the wireless infrastructure in November 2019, the original distribution of this project was completed in the autumn of 2020. Since then, the fully electric, 40-tonne truck and trailer have successfully performed tests on a 1.6 km road between the airport and the city. center, reached speeds of up to 80 km / h, and as a result it received an average power of 70 kW from the electrified roadway.

“As one of ElectReon’s first public road expansions, it’s exciting to see the Smartroad Gotland project reach important milestones,” said Oren Ezer, CEO of ElectReon. “By highlighting how a bus can successfully charge while on the road in real environments like Gotland, it is clear that wireless charging solutions can give cities a more convenient, cost-effective and sustainable way to switch to an electric future.”

As a pre-commercial demonstration project, the Smartroad Gotland project will be completed in the spring of 2022, but marks a critical step change for Sweden as it works to commercialize large-scale electrical road systems throughout the country. By doing so, Sweden will be well on its way to achieving its national goal of installing 2,000 km of electric roads by 2030 and achieving zero emissions by 2045.

“We are very pleased to be part of this world-unique investment in fossil-free solutions,” said Martin Yang, HIGER’s Sales Director for the European Market. “Electreon’s wireless technology works excellently with our electric vehicles and we are now ready to mass produce vehicles with the new technology. We look forward to participating in the development of future charging, static and dynamic. ”