
The Swedish company Elonroad will be demonstrating its charging system in Quebec, which consists of a non-intrusive ground-mounted conductor rail and an inverted pantograph under the vehicles, allowing automatic EV charging whether they are stationary or moving.
The Energy Transition Valley (ETV) announced the signing of a strategic agreement by various stakeholders who will take part in this demonstration, namely VTE, InnovÉÉ , Groupe Morneau , Elonroad and Filgo.

Elonroad’s technology has been adopted in Europe by companies such as Swedish catering distributor Martin & Servera , the Swedish Transport Administration and the Port of Oslo.
It enables smaller batteries and cheaper, lighter, cleaner electric vehicles and can be applied to all types of vehicles, including trucks, the company says. It can be installed at trucking company terminals, in seaports and on certain strategic road sections.
Elonroad will work with vehicles on Transport Morneau and Filgo properties, with the Swedish company “wishing to develop the project in Quebec by demonstrating the technological efficiency and economic viability of its technology.”
The project will begin in the coming months and Groupe Morneau will validate the product. “It’s a really interesting technology and it could lead to a great evolution in the electrification of transportation,” said Denis Marcotte, director of technical services at Groupe Morneau. Identifying new technologies on the market and testing them is part of the company’s mandate. “Then, we have to determine whether these technologies will be reliable and profitable to operate.”
Elonroad’s charging system will be installed at Groupe Morneau’s terminal in Quebec City, where the carrier’s Volvo VNR Electric tractor and Tyco shunter are based.
The tests with the shunting tractor are particularly interesting for reliability tests, Marcotte believes, because it will pass over the rail often during the day. “This will allow us to collect a lot of data and see the reliability of the product. To see, for example, does it connect 90% or 100% of the time, or does it not work?”
In addition, several trucks are circulating in the terminal yard and will pass over the rails of the charging system. “We will be able to see if the rail will be resistant to shear, tires, calcium, contaminants. It is a test cell that is really perfect for evaluating the reliability of the product,” concluded Marcotte.
A rail of around 30 meters will be installed to test dynamic charging – when the vehicle passes by while driving – in addition to static rails to ensure the charging of vehicles when they are stationary.

Elonroad has estimated in Europe that its system can reduce the total operating cost of a fleet of 420 trucks by 10 million euros ($15 million). According to Valéry Prunier, general manager of Elonroad France, rail technology is less demanding on the electrical installations of buildings than charging stations.
“When a site with a lot of diesel vehicles wants to switch to electric, there is electricity for heating, air conditioning and lighting. But it is often far from sufficient to electrify the vehicles and we therefore need a reinforcement of the network which is expensive and takes months to complete,” explained Prunier.
“Since we reduce the size of the vehicle’s battery by recharging at different times when the vehicle is working, we reduce the need to reinforce the site’s electrical network.” The electricity demand of the rail system is approximately a third, depending on the case, of what the electric terminals require. “It’s faster, it’s cheaper and it has less impact on society,” added Prunier.
The modification that must be made to the truck so that it can be recharged by rail must obviously not affect the manufacturer’s warranty. “That’s why we work with the manufacturers. We have signed contracts with six or seven major manufacturers with whom we work on integration. They understand exactly from the inside what we do and they do not modify the warranty.”
Filgo will distribute Elonroad technology in Quebec. “At Filgo, we firmly believe that technological innovation is essential to the energy transition. Ground-based charging technology opens up new perspectives for the electrification of transportation,” said Wassim Kanso, senior director of energy transition at Filgo.
Credit: Source link