An updated view of the devel­opment for long-haul road transports fuelled by electricity and hydrogen

What is the current view of the technical and economic devel­opment for long-haul road transports fuelled by electricity and hydrogen? Globally, a lot of R&D and demonstration efforts are directed towards electric roads and fuel cell vehicles. Two major demonstration projects are situated in Sweden, namely in Sandviken and Arlanda. In a newly finished f3 project, Vehicles and infrastructure for heavy long-haul transports fueled by electricity and hydrogen, main actors involved in the electric road system technologies in the Swedish projects have been interviewed as well as heavy vehicle manufacturers and hydrogen fuel suppliers. The aim of the project has been to provide an updated view of the technical and economic devel­opment for long-haul road transports fuelled by electricity and hydrogen in a Swedish context.

Three different types of electric road systems (overhead conductive, rail conductive and dynamic inductive) have been studied aswell as fuel cells. Projections for the development of vehicle and infrastructure costs have been made from analysis of relevant literature, and these have been compared to the cost of conventional long-haul diesel lorries. Energy costs of the different solutions have also been estimated.

The project has been lead by Stefan Grönkvist, KTH, with participants also from Scania and University of Pisa.