Assessments of various electric road technologies began in 2013. A report generated by TRL in association with the Swedish Transport Administration listed available electric road systems, of which KAIST
OLEV, Siemens eHighway, Elways, Elonroad, Bombardier PRIMOVE, and
Electreon were estimated to be the most commercial-ready, with OLEV and eHighway already possessing a complete system in 2018. After further investigation the readiness level assessments of OLEV and Electreon were lowered. An interim report summarizing the assessment phase was published in February 2021, and a preliminary report on the standardization, construction, operation, maintenance and financing of electric roads was submitted September 2021. The system as tested is capable of delivering 500 kW of power and has an estimated maintenance period of 20 years. and the system is suited for electric cars, and is safe to touch even when the road is flooded with salt water. "There is no electricity on the surface. There are two tracks, just like an outlet in the wall. Five or six centimetres down is where the electricity is." The system as tested is capable of delivering 200 kW of power and has an estimated maintenance period of 20 years. reports that in a pilot with
Budpartner initiated in 2021 the infrastructure successfully delivered 960 kW of power, and hopes to deliver megawatts of power for logistics loading docks and
electric aircraft in the future.
Electreon Trafikverket assessed a wireless
electric road system (WERS) with
inductive coils using technology by
Electreon, an Israeli startup. Testing was scheduled to begin in 2020. The system is made of short sections containing copper coils that energize when a vehicle is driving over them and switch off when it's passed, and it supports power metering and a billing for the energy consumed. The system is estimated to have a maintenance period of 5 years for roadside equipment Electreon first tested receivers nominally capable of up to 25 kW, installing three 25 kW receivers on an electric bus, The pilot was scheduled to conclude in March 2022, however Electreon has requested an extension for another year so it can test receivers nominally capable of 30 kW. Testing has been extended in late 2022 by another two years to assess seasonal damage and maintenance. The German Ministry of Economy,
BMWK, tested infrastructure by Electreon in 2023 with a bus equipped with inductive coils that receive power from a 200-meter strip of transmitters under the road surface. The receivers were able to collect 64.3% of the power emitted from the transmitters. Installation proved complex and costly, and finding suitable locations for the coils' roadside power cabinets proved difficult. The
Coventry University dynamic charging project DynaCoV found wireless electric roads financially infeasible, using itemized costs provided in 2021 by Electreon.
Elonroad Trafikverket began testing
ground-level conductive rails power delivery in 2020 using technology by Elonroad, a Swedish startup located in
Lund. The project,
EVolutionRoad, was scheduled to begin planning in 2019 and conclude its testing and demonstrations in 2022. The first stretch of road was inaugurated in June 2020 and is the first electric road system placed in an urban environment. The system uses a conductive pickup under the vehicle that connects to a rail on top of the road surface via sliding contacts. The rail is active one meter at a time when covered by the vehicle, making it safe in a city environment. The system measures the energy consumed, so that the vehicle owner can be billed. The system as tested is capable of delivering up to 300 kW with 97% efficiency while driving and it is estimated to have a maintenance period of 10 years. At the request of Trafikverket, Elonroad has switched focus in 2023 from rail glued to the surface of the road, or
on-road rail, to rail embedded in the road at surface level, or
in-road rail, which is better suited for higher vehicle speeds. Testing was concluded in May 2024. Elonroad credits the pilot with paving the way for their participation in the pilot project for
electric roads in France.
Cost Infrastructure Trafikverket estimated the capital costs in million
Swedish krona per two lane-kilometers or one road-kilometer in 2021: 12.4 for overhead wires, 9.4-10.5 for in-road rail, 11.5-15.3 for on-road rail, and 19.5-20.8 for inductive coils. This estimate does not account for total installation costs, maintenance costs, and other costs. The 2024 report by Trafikverket found that the cost estimates quoted earlier in the project relied too much on the manufacturers' estimates. Trafikverket estimates that the costs are at least double what was previously reported.
Maintenance Travikverket estimated in 2020 that other-than-damage maintenance costs are highest for either of the two rail systems, second highest for overhead lines, and lowest for induction. Total annual maintenance costs were estimated in 2021 by the technology providers to be, in terms of percentage per year of the initial capital costs, 0.5% for rail, up to 1% for induction, and 1%-2% for overhead lines. A 2022 paper estimated yearly repair and maintenance cost per kilometer at 16,000 USD for overhead lines, 11,000 USD for in-road rail, and 33,000 USD for inductive coils. A 2022 research paper by
RISE estimates that installing approximately 4,000 km of electric roads that supply at least 150 kW per truck on average is the most economically beneficial option for electric vehicle charging. Overhead power lines, despite being the most mature technology and, at the time of the 2019 report, having the least expensive infrastructure, are the most expensive overall because they only allow tall commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses to charge while driving, while non-commercial vehicles cannot use the wires to charge while driving, so they will have to use static charging that requires larger batteries with higher capacities than batteries required with the use of dynamic charging. Though overhead lines had the least expensive infrastructure costs when the initial report was written, while passenger vehicles were found to incur the least costs with electric road charging.
2024 report The project's final report submitted in December 2024 recommended against a national electric road network in Sweden as it would not be cost-effective. The
annualized societal costs from 2040 to 2070 were found to be higher than the benefits, with a robust degree of certainty. Subsequently, Trafikverket decided to pause the project. ==Planning==