An electric road, eroad, e-roadway, or electric road system (ERS) is a road which supplies electric power to vehicles travelling on it. Common implementations are overhead power lines above the road, ground-level power supply through conductive rails, and dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) through resonant inductive coils or inductive rails embedded in the road. Overhead power lines are limited to commercial vehicles while ground-level rails and inductive power transfer can be used by any vehicle, which allows for public charging through a power metering and billing systems. Of the three methods, ground-level conductive rails are estimated to be the most cost-effective.[1]: 10–11
Government studies and trials have been conducted in several countries. Korea was the first to implement an induction-based public electric road with a commercial bus line in 2013 after testing an experimental shuttle service in 2009,[2]: 11–18 but it was shut down due to aging infrastructure amidst controversy over the continued public funding of the technology.[3] United Kingdom municipal projects in 2015[4] and 2021 found wireless electric roads financially unfeasible.[5] Germany found in 2023 that the wireless electric road system (wERS) by Electreon collects 64.3% of the transmitted energy, poses many difficulties during installation, and blocks access to other infrastructure in the road.[6] Sweden has been performing assessments of various electric road technologies since 2013 under the Swedish Transport Administration electric road program.[7]: 5 As of 2023 Sweden is pursuing cost-reduction measures for either wireless or rail electric roads.[8] Germany trialed overhead lines in three projects and reported they are too expensive, difficult to maintain, and pose a safety risk.[9][10][11] France found those same drawbacks for overhead lines, and began testing inductive and rail electric road systems in 2023.[12][13]
Terms like "electric highway" may also be used to describe regular roads fitted with charging stations at regular intervals.[14]
- ^ Francisco J. Márquez-Fernández (May 20, 2019), Power conversion challenges with an all-electric land transport system (PDF), Swedish Electromobility Centre
- ^ D Bateman; et al. (October 8, 2018), Electric Road Systems: a solution for the future (PDF), TRL, archived from the original (PDF) on August 3, 2020, retrieved November 19, 2019
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