12 April, 2024 Webmaster

Creating the Electromobility of the Future

What are the important steps for large-scale implementation of electromobility? Linda Olofsson is the director of the Swedish Electromobility Centre (SEC) and member of the Advisory Board for VECS. Together with Stefan Pettersson IVL (Swedish Environmental Research Institute) she will moderate Track D Electrification on May 15 at VECS 2024. During the past four years, the Swedish Electromobility Center has grown to almost double, which reflects the journey that the Electromobility area has made. We asked Linda a few questions on how we can increase collaboration, scale up electrification of road transportation and her work at SEC.

 

Could you please introduce yourself and your work at Swedish Electromobility Centre? 

I am Linda Olofsson, director of Swedish Electromobility Centre (SEC), the national research center for electrification of transport. SEC’s research areas span from technology onboard vehicles to the system surrounding it, end-users, and societal impact. This broad scope enables a holistic approach on electromobility research and the implementation of a sustainable transport system. SEC is financed by academic and industrial partners, as well as the Swedish Energy Agency.

How can we increase collaboration between academia, industry and society?

I believe we are quite good at collaboration in Sweden, it is one of our competitive edges, but we can probably be even better. SEC work to increase collaboration by joint roadmaps, project creation and workshops on important questions for our area.

We not only cooperate within the center, but actively work with all stakeholders to find the best solutions and research projects. Openness and knowledge sharing is a key to what we do.

How do we scale up electrification of road transportation – fast enough?

We must make sure it is profitable to make the transition, cost and performance should not be a barrier for EVs. For light vehicles we are past the early adopters and must reach the early majority to scale up. On the heavy vehicle side, there are still things we must learn to be able to scale up, demonstrations and tests of technology solutions are needed.

A growing fleet of EVs requires available and reliable charging infrastructure, green energy to be sustainable and grid capacity to support infrastructure. Here cities, regions, grid owners and energy producers must work together.

What are the important steps for large-scale implementation of electromobility?

In addition to the mentioned above, integration of the vehicle in the grid, standardization of vehicle communication and new business models for smart charging are also important steps towards large-scale implementation of electromobility. We must also build up our capacity and competence in Sweden within the field of electromobility to support the development.

What are you most looking forward to by attending and moderating at VECS?

Meeting people I know and getting to know new people. I am also very much looking forward to our track Electrification, co-leading it with Stefan Pettersson from IVL and our discussions in the panel.