In Sweden’s first fully electric truck will operate between Arlanda airport and PostNord’s largest terminal in Rosersberg starting late autumn 2017. The distance is 10 km and the truck will be powered by a 2 km long electrified rail in the road.
The electrified road is a result of the eRoadArlanda project, which started in 2013 through the collaboration of stakeholders including construction firm NCC, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Elways, an organisation that develops mobile charging solutions.PostNord joined the consortium the following year.
The electricity is transmitted from the rail in the road to the truck via a moving arm mounted on the truck. The arm identifies where the rail is located and connects automatically when the vehicle passes over the rail. When leaving the electric road the connector automatically retracts and the truck continues in battery mode.
“This could be a solution for us in the future, as we have many types of vehicles and the technology works for both heavy and light vehicles. The electrification of transport is a crucial part of our efforts to create an energy efficient low carbon distribution system,” says PostNord Sweden’s Head of Environment, Mårten Sjölin.
The eRoad Arlanda is an important component in creating a sustainable logistics solution for the area. It starts with the aircraft landing at Arlanda using emissions reducing Green in-flight. The goods are then transported by the electric truck on the electric road to PostNord’s Green Building certified terminal in Rosersberg, with one of Sweden’s largest solar panel arrays on the roof. The terminal is connected to the railroad network and further transportation of the goods to other terminals will be conducted by train powered by renewable energy.