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The world’s first self-charging electric rail has been implemented into a Swedish road.
The electric rail, about 2km (1.2 miles) long has been embedded in a public road near Stockholm.
Sweden’s target of independence from fossil fuels by 2030 requires a 70% reduction in the transport sector.
The technology behind the electrification of the road linking Stockholm Arlanda airport to a logistics site outside the capital city aims to solve the thorny problems of keeping electric vehicles charged, and make the manufacture of their batteries affordable.
Energy is transferred from 2 tracks of rail in the road via a moveable arm attached to the bottom of the vehicle. The design is not dissimilar to that of a Scalextric track, although if the vehicle should overtake, the arm is automatically disconnected.
The electrified is divided into 50m sections, with an individual section powered only when a vehicle is above it.
In Sweden there roughly are half a million kilometres of roadway, of which 20,000km are highways. “If we electrify 2000km of roads that will definitely be enough” Sall said. “The distance between 2 highways is never more than 45km and electric cars can already drive that distance without
needing to be recharged. Some believe it will be enough to
electrify 500km”
By Aaron Daly & Marty Daskalov