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posted by janrinok on Thursday April 26 2018, @05:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the no-shorts-please dept.

CNN reports

Sweden has a goal of achieving a completely fossil fuel free vehicle fleet by 2030 and in order to achieve this, it has started trialling a series of projects to develop and test technologies that will enable the country to completely convert to electric vehicles.

One project includes the "eRoad" which charges electric vehicles during journeys via a rail. So far, it has cost €6.4 million ($7.7 million) to install but it's predicted that if it were implemented across the country it would eventually work out less than €1 million ($1.2 million) per kilometer to build.

The track stretches along two kilometers (1.2 miles) and has been installed on public road "893" just 30 minutes outside of Stockholm. The eRoad has many advantages, Säll says. If implemented it will mean electric vehicle batteries can be smaller -- and therefore lighter -- because they won't need to retain as much charge, the vehicles will then be cheaper to manufacture and will ultimately be more sustainable. For a heavy truck to be 100% electric, he explains, it would need a battery that weighs 40 tonnes. But if technology like the eRoad was readily available, the truck's battery would be able to weigh as little as 600 kilograms.


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  • (Score: 4, Touché) by bob_super on Thursday April 26 2018, @06:04PM (8 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday April 26 2018, @06:04PM (#672234)

    I'd be nice if I didn't have to Google for the simple questions:
    - How fast can a car drive without losing contact?
    - How much extra maintenance does this scheme cost, to both the cars and the road?
    - How do they handle rain/snow/gravel/roadkill?
    - What voltage, and how do they keep people safe?
    - How many cars can charge at full rate at once?

    You know, the basics that tell you whether it's a realistic option, worth the money invested...

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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday April 26 2018, @06:07PM (1 child)

    by frojack (1554) on Thursday April 26 2018, @06:07PM (#672237) Journal

    You forgot about Joe Average driver, who can just barely get through a car wash without going off the rails, trying to remain in contact with a rail while driving down a road.

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    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday April 26 2018, @08:51PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday April 26 2018, @08:51PM (#672312)

      That's what Joe Average's autopilot is for. Maybe they can implement something relatively simple like positive train control [up.com] except, you know, real?

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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by SomeGuy on Thursday April 26 2018, @06:21PM

    by SomeGuy (5632) on Thursday April 26 2018, @06:21PM (#672244)

    You are not supposed to think of that sort of thing. It is green and good for teh planet. That is all you need to know. Why do you hate the planet? :P

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by looorg on Thursday April 26 2018, @06:23PM (4 children)

    by looorg (578) on Thursday April 26 2018, @06:23PM (#672248)

    There is an FAQ over at the website for the road project, it's even available in English (1) (I have no idea why CNN links to the Swedish speaking version, yes there is a little flag in the corner there to swap sites but still ...). It had answers for at least a couple of the questions you ask, if you can't find the answer there you can even fill out a little form and ask questions. I was more curious that it even made CNN considering that it barely registered as news over here and it was a good few weeks ago that it opened.

    (1) https://eroadarlanda.com/faq/ [eroadarlanda.com]

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Thursday April 26 2018, @08:57PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday April 26 2018, @08:57PM (#672316)

      Because CNN has to be the fount of all knowledge and opinion - if they made it easier for people to do their own research they'd be losing their control of the message, where's their incentive to do that? Do you have and normally use an alternative news source that is more helpful then CNN? Maybe, but if you do, you're in a small minority.

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    • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday April 27 2018, @02:58AM (2 children)

      by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 27 2018, @02:58AM (#672443) Journal

      I have no idea why CNN links to the Swedish speaking version

      I don't know either - because the story comes up in English on my browser and I can see nothing in the link that points to a Swedish language version. .

      • (Score: 2) by looorg on Friday April 27 2018, @04:27PM (1 child)

        by looorg (578) on Friday April 27 2018, @04:27PM (#672635)

        In this particular project, 'eRoadArlanda' ...

        About 1/3 down the article after the second larger image. 'eRoadArlanda' points to https://eroadarlanda.se/ [eroadarlanda.se] which shows the Swedish version, https://eroadarlanda.com [eroadarlanda.com] is the English version. Are you getting different links from CNN?

        • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday April 27 2018, @05:07PM

          by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 27 2018, @05:07PM (#672657) Journal

          I have only provided the CNN link which, at least on my browser, points to the quoted article which is clearly written in English. We have no control over the links inside that article; the original source provides those.