Electric Highway (e-Highway) Market

Market Overview

Highways are a vital part of the modernized economy, and transport is studied to be a significant end-sector with high dependence on fossil fuels, accounting for a share of approx. 90% of all other primary resources.

Transport is the leading source of greenhouse gases (GHG), with passenger surface transport being the largest sub-component. However, between 2016 and 2019, a significant shift has been witnessed with emissions from freight surface transport growing rapidly in comparison to passenger surface transport. 

The concept of electric highways or e-highways has emerged to reduce the impact of the shift and reduce air pollution. It integrates railway technology as the modern highway, where reformed hybrid trucks are provided with electricity from overhead connection lines through a dynamic pantograph, capable of coupling and uncoupling the overhead cables to speeds ranging up to 90kmph. The materialization of this concept would help economies attain the feasibility of road transport economically by utilizing existing infrastructure and reducing energy usage.

The electrification of road transport (ERS) is studied to have promising prospects, vitally as a drive range extender for long trips by providing electric vehicles (EVs) with continuous electricity in mobility rather than using onboard batteries, facilitating EVs to charge their batteries on the go.

In an aim to understand the market and its growth prospects, the global electric highway market has studied across three different e-road technologies — overhead lines, rail, and inductive. The below table explains these technologies highlighting their differences.

The primary goal of the concept of electric highway and associated technologies is to reduce the carbon emissions from conventional transportation media such as diesel-based automotive. 

Regional Analysis

The global electric highway market is studied across five key regions, namely North America, Europe, South America, the Middle-East, and Africa. A key criterion for consideration during the study of the electric highway market is the consumption of electric vehicles in these regions as it will positively impact the demand for associated infrastructure such as electric highways.

Figure 3: EV Consumption Across Regions, 2017–2027

Asia-Pacific is a promising market for the adoption of electric highways as the region accounts for the highest projected consumption of electric vehicles. In 2018, approx. 425,000 electric buses were operating globally, of which 98% were in China. The city of Shenzhen, in particular, is one of the few cities that has a fully electrified fleet. South Korea had 145 battery-powered buses operating in 2019, with the capital city Seoul accounting for a majority of the fleet.

Such scenarios will certainly augment the demand for associated infrastructure that would not help in bringing down the GHG percentage but also enhance fleet operations, making Asia-Pacific a high potential electric  highway market of the future.

Europe accounts for the second-highest consumption of electric vehicles as a result of favorable initiatives and tax benefits that regulatory bodies offer in return for adopting electric vehicles. Some of the key government initiatives associated with the adoption of electric vehicles in European countries are listed below.

Recent Developments

• May 2019: Germany introduced its first test route of 10 km of the A5 autobahn for overhead line hybrid trucks, also known as the electric highway. The highway deploys Siemens eHighway technology, specifically designed for hybrid trucks equipped with equipment mounted on their roofs, allowing them to draw electric power from overhead cables.
• July 2019: India is expected to introduce its first highway corridors installed with charging stations along the Delhi–Jaipur and Delhi–Agra highways by 2020.
• January 2020: India’s Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, announced that 60% of the contracts for the Delhi–Mumbai electric highway, which will be a 1,300 km stretch of a 12-lane green highway, have already been awarded to key tech giants from Germany, the U.S., and Sweden.
• February 2020: Tesla Motors is discussing plans with the relevant authorities to include Greece in a mega-project focused on building vehicle superchargers along the European Portugal–Turkey route. The route stretches to an approx. of 4,800 kilometers, and thus, the deployment of about 1,500 electrical chargers along with 250 charging points is proposed along the way.

Electric Highway (e-Highway) Market Segmentation

By Technology

• Overhead Lines
• Rail
• Inductive

By Region

• North America
• South America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Middle East & Africa