Newsletter #6: Electromobility, Green Hydrogen, and Sustainable Aviation

Welcome to the sixth edition of our newsletter, where we provide updates to GTI’s work and the ongoing green transition collaboration between Sweden and the US!?

In this issue, we examine how electrified and decarbonized transport can reduce emissions across industries. Electric vehicles were a prominent focus of the 2023 Detroit Motor Show, illustrating the automotive industry’s growing efforts to advance electrification. GTI’s Michael Salter attended the Motor Show in addition to the 2023 SACC Summit, which was held at Autoliv’s Michigan facility. ?

Clean fuels like hydrogen also complement electrified transport by reaching hard-to-abate sectors, vehicles, and infrastructure. In the United States, policymakers are accelerating the development of green hydrogen as a means of decarbonizing freight vehicles and heavy industry. In Sweden, companies like Stegra are racing to develop green hydrogen to power the first carbon neutral steelmaking plant.?

Aside from advances in green hydrogen, Sweden is also at the forefront of electric vehicle, battery, and charging technology. In our conversation with , CEO of , we discussed how electrical road technology is reimagining electromobility by integrating charging into pavement. Karin emphasized Elonroad’s success in testing electrical roads in Lund, Sweden and Elonroad’s upcoming project outside Paris, France.?GTI also interviewed Christina Zander, Head of Communication at , who highlighted the challenges to developing the world’s first electric plane, the ES-30. Heart Aerospace’s hybrid aircraft technology is advancing a new future of clean, affordable, and accessible travel.??

Finally, we look forward to launching?the Green Transition Summit (GTS) at the House of Sweden, Washington, DC on October 2nd. GTS is co-hosted by the Embassy of Sweden?and Atlantic Council, in addition to being sponsored by 沃尔沃建筑设备公司 and 阿特拉斯·科普柯 . The Summit’s themes are accelerating sustainable cities and green industry through leveraging both?Swedish and American strengths to advance the green transition. ?

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Best regards,?

The GTI Team?

Washington DC | Palo Alto?

GTI Attends Detroit Motor Show and SACC Summit?

Detroit, Michigan is ground zero for the US automotive industry and is home to the “Big 3” car manufacturers in the United States: General Motors Company, Ford Motors Company, and Stellantis, formerly known as Fiat Chrysler.?The greater Detroit region is booming with new investments furthering the Green Transition in the United States.?GTI accompanied the Swedish Embassy Delegation to Detroit on 13-15 September to?discuss electromobility and green transition at the 2023 SACC Summit, in addition to visiting the North American International Detroit Auto Show.?

The SACC Summit was hosted by Autoliv at their US headquarters in Auburn Hills and brought together SACC chapters from all over the country. Swedish companies presented on green progress in the automotive sector, including industry leaders like?Atlas Copco, Autoliv, Axis Communications, KASI Technologies, SSAB and Volvo Trucks. Michael Salter represented GTI?to present pillars of the Swedish electromobility innovation: the SEEL Swedish Electric Transport Laboratory., the AstaZero Test Center and Drive Sweden , one of the 17 Swedish Innovation Programs. Drive Sweden investigates how digitization can make transport more sustainable.?

Scaling electromobility?will reduce transportation-related emissions, however the automotive industry must also reduce the carbon-intensity of steel – a necessary resource for car manufacturing. In 2022, the world produced approximately 85 million motor vehicles, each using an average of 900 kg of steel per vehicle. Electrification is not enough to cut automotive emissions; advancing carbon-neutral steel will also be crucial to reduce carbon impact throughout the supply chain. GTI presented on Swedish Innovation clusters developing green steel and biofuels such as Sustainable Steel Region and the Paper Province . The SACC attendees then toured Autoliv’s manufacturing and testing facilities to learn more about passenger safety systems.?

After the SACC meeting, SACC and the Swedish delegation visited the Detroit Motor Show to witness some of the exciting developments for the electric vehicle revolution. The evening was rounded off with the fine SACC Summit dinner at the birthplace of the Ford Model T, the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant.?

US Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Swedish H2 Green Steel: Delivering Deep Decarbonization??

Sweden and the United States are progressing in developing green hydrogen, a crucial fuel source accelerating the green transition. When produced using renewable energy, hydrogen fuel generates zero emissions – a highly advantageous alternative to fossil fuels. In the United States, clean hydrogen refers to hydrogen fuel produced from renewable energy sources, nuclear, or biomass. Sweden is developing infrastructure to create green hydrogen, which refers to hydrogen fuel created from renewable energy.?Stockholm-based H2 Green Steel was?founded less than three years ago yet is well positioned to advance hydrogen powered steelmaking. The company aims to produce 5 million tons of green steel by 2030, significantly reducing emissions in this hard-to-abate industry. H2 Green Steel is demonstrating the industrial usage of green hydrogen and its potential to leverage renewable energy. Overall, clean hydrogen is an increasingly viable fuel source capable of cutting emissions across industries, practical applications, and sectors worldwide. ?

The United States Department of Energy (US DOE) has identified the multi-faceted applications of clean hydrogen, especially its great potential to decarbonize sectors less suitable for electrification. In June 2023, the DOE released the "U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap," outlining the Biden-Harris Administration’s plan to catalyze the development of hydrogen fuel. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), passed in November 2021, has mobilized $9.5 billion towards clean hydrogen and advancing the DOE’s Hydrogen Strategy. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will further strengthen clean hydrogen development through a production tax credit. Both acts of legislation will advance the Hydrogen Energy Earthshot plan, DOE’s goal to lower the cost of clean hydrogen to $1? per 1 kilogram in 1 decade (“1 1 1”). Initially announced in June 2021, the Hydrogen Earthshot plan is integrated into the Clean Hydrogen Strategy to structure future development of the energy resource.??

The United States is investing heavily in clean hydrogen, but many obstacles are preventing its large-scale adoption. The DOE asserts that high cost of production, lack of infrastructure, and low public awareness are key challenges limiting the growth of the green hydrogen industry. To increase the production of clean hydrogen, DOE plans to implement a regional hub approach to develop the hydrogen economy. DOE’s production networks will leverage industrial sectors and renewable energy capabilities found in each region to scale clean hydrogen and advance its market adoption.?

Strategic application is integral to the development of clean hydrogen. The Biden-Harris Administration plans maximize clean hydrogen’s impact by targeting strategic industries and applications where electrification is not feasible. In the transportation sector, clean hydrogen can facilitate the decarbonization of trucking fleets and other industrial vehicles. Clean hydrogen may also be utilized to produce sustainable aviation fuels or potentially as a standalone fuel for air travel. However, clean hydrogen is gaining significant industry traction within steelmaking, which accounts for 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The US Clean Hydrogen Strategy specifically articulates green hydrogen’s potential to reduce fossil fuel reliance in the American steel industry.??

Sweden is concurrently progressing in clean hydrogen infrastructure, especially in conjunction with steelmaking. Northern Sweden is uniquely positioned to develop clean hydrogen and green steel given the region’s significant renewable energy capacity and iron mining infrastructure. Swedish companies like H2 Green Steel are leveraging these conditions to accelerate the development of green steel with the use of clean hydrogen.?

To reach their goal of bringing green steel to market, H2 Green Steel is developing a giga-scale electrolyzer to generate green hydrogen and power steel production. H2GS estimates their green steel operation will yield a 95% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to traditional steelmaking. By the end of 2025, H2GS’s production facility in Boden, Northern Sweden, will be operational, enabling the company to reach commercial volumes by 2026.??

“For steel, and a few other industries, there is no alternative to hydrogen when it comes to possible routes to decarbonization and being able to shift to sustainable production practices,” noted Karin Hallstan , Head of Public and Media Relations at H2 Green Steel. In our conversation with Karin, she stressed that steelmaking accounts for between 7-8% of global greenhouse gas emissions due to carbon-intensive blast furnaces which manufacture steel. Steel will be the company’s “first vertical,” but H2 Green Steel is looking towards other industries that could benefit from hydrogen fuel. Karin stated: “our mission is to make sure we lead the way and show that steel can be produced sustainably, and on a much quicker timeline than most of the incumbent industry plans. Driving the demand for green steel will catalyze change.”?

Karin also emphasized how?H2 Green Steel recently raised over €1.5 billion in equity financing, the largest private placement in Europe in 2023. She discussed how the company’s success in raising capital investments demonstrates the “commercial viability of green basic materials production.” H2 Green Steel has partnered with investors and lenders, an approach Karin hopes “can set a precedent for others” in heavy industrial sectors. Karin concluded that she foresees H2 Green Steel’s “project finance package, green premium and equity round will inspire many more projects across hard-to-abate industries, both investors, established companies and green field startups.”?

Lastly, H2 Green Steel is also looking beyond the European market, having announced partnerships with Mercedes-Benz and Vale in North America. The company is evaluating regions with access to renewable energy to facilitate the production of green hydrogen.?

Sweden and the United States are integral stakeholders in the growing clean hydrogen economy. As the DOE National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap asserts, producing hydrogen without emissions must become more cost-effective to scale the technology nationally and globally. H2 Green Steel’s progress in Sweden continues to demonstrate that decarbonizing heavy industry is possible. Both Sweden and the United States are positioning clean hydrogen as a key catalyst for deep decarbonization, linking the energy sector and heavy industry unlike ever before.???

Re-envisioning Electromobility Through Innovative Charging - Interview with Karin Ebbinghaus, CEO of Elonroad?

Elonroad’s innovative technology is redefining electromobility by placing charging infrastructure in roads, rather than integrated into standard charging stations. We had the privilege of meeting with Karin Ebbinghaus , CEO of Elonroad . Karin and her team at Elonroad are accelerating the development of electric road systems (ERS), which allow for continuous electric charging while vehicles are in motion. ERS utilize a ground level feeding system which transports electricity into vehicles, which enables smaller, more cost-effective batteries. In our discussion, Karin discussed how Elonroad is revisioning the logic of vehicle charging, the EvolutionRoad pilot in Lund, Sweden, and the role of business leaders to accelerate the green transition.??

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1. Karin, can you introduce your company, Elonroad, and explain how you are innovating the conditions of electrified transport??

The idea that you could stream energy in the same way you could stream music really appealed to me. I thought this could be as disruptive as Spotify has been since Electric Roads are a total flip of charging logic. When you have a combustion car, and a tank filled with petrol and diesel, and when you run out you refill it. And you have a whole ecosystem to do that. Now we discovered that fossil fuels are not so good, and we have replaced the tank with a battery. But, we’ve basically copied the same principle that we run out, we go somewhere to refill or recharge. And the solution to “range anxiety” is to have bigger batteries and faster chargers just to get the same system. Instead, we could stream energy because energy doesn’t weigh anything, so actually we can transfer energy to our vehicles while we drive and we don’t need as large of batteries and we charging would be a non-issue. It would even be better than before, so for us it’s a different logic.?

And I realize we are not there yet since the industry is still centered around batteries and fast chargers: a full charging ecosystem. That is the most challenging part for us now is to get people to understand that if we want to scale electrification, we need to do something different rather than mimic the logic of combustion engines.??

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2. Elonroad’s technology reduces the need for large batteries and extends electric vehicles’ driving range. Do electric roads present an alternative to a network of charging stations or should these technologies work alongside one another??

It won’t be a question of either/or, it’s all. We will need so much charging to reach net-zero emissions. We need both large charging stations and electrical road systems. When you think about electrical roads, people think it will cost so much and it will be so difficult to implement. But if you look at the permits to put up power stations and grid connections that is already a hard nut to crack for any kind of charging. I believe we will need less grid upgrades to build electrical roads.??

It is easier for people to grasp electrical roads in closed loop circuits, in a port, airport, or mine. We work a lot in these areas because they are contained, have the same vehicle types, and require a high up time. Everyone thinks closed-loop contexts makes sense for ERS. And yes, it does make a lot of sense, but that’s only the first step. It’s the same logic, we want an infrastructure we can share, that is available for many people. We are sharing the roads, so we should have the same logic when it comes to charging infrastructure. We need to redesign how we conduct transport to be as resource efficient as possible, to optimize every flow.??

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3. The growth of electromobility is accelerating linkages between the renewable energy sector and transportation. How do you envision the ongoing collaboration between renewable energy and electrified transport??

Historically, you had the automotive sector and the energy sector, and they did not interlink. Now, I would like to see vehicles as part of the overall energy solution. If we have electrical roads, the vehicles are charging during the day, when here’s an abundance of renewables, solar wind, and you could almost say they’re harvesting energy during the day. Overnight, you can put the energy back from the battery into the system. So, we should see vehicles as not part of the problem but part of the solution because vehicles, in the future, will be moving energy storage. It is a paradigm shift. We hope there will be new stakeholders that can come forward and bring the technology forward.??

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4. Elonroad’s pilot program, EVolutionRoad, in Lund, Sweden tested electric road technology in a real urban environment. How did your team learn and adapt from the pilot program??

We learned so much, it’s been a game changer for us to have that kind of project. EVolutionRoad has been financed by the Swedish Transport Administration, an agency that wants to scale electromobility. In addition to the project in Lund, we also have rails in Northern Sweden to see how it works in snow, because we always get questions about how it works in snow. It’s a privilege to work with knowledgeable people, to work with the University, research institutes, and all the skilled professionals who drive electromobility. Bringing these stakeholders together is a very successful triple helix project because it combines academia, the private sector, and the public, such as the city and public transport network.??

It's been a privilege to explore, and to fulfill the purpose of this project: to learn and demonstrate. We have achieved everything we promised to do, we’ve charged different vehicles at the same time, we have charged almost 300 kW driving almost 80 kilometers an hour. It has been a great foundation as a company to grow for the next stage, since now we’re building 2 kilometers outside Paris.??

We are working with a French construction company called VINCI, which is currently testing electrical transport technology. France’s Transportation Ministry has conducted studies to show, from a socio-economical point of view, what is the best way to decarbonize road transportation. Comparing hydrogen fuel, biogas, battery electric, and electrical roads, which allows for smaller batteries. France is very interested in looking further into electrical road solutions to reduce the cost of batteries and charging, which strengthens the value of our international project.?

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5. From electric car charging while driving or parked, to electrifying public transportation, and decarbonizing industrial vehicles, electric road technology can be deployed across many contexts. Could you provide an overview of the applications of Elonroad’s technology and potentially how you see electric roads evolving from here??

It is important to have a technology that can charge everything from long haul trucks to personal EVs and every vehicle in between. One market barrier is that we need to adopt personal vehicles on public electric roads. So, if we have several vehicles with different owners, like in a public road, it will be hard to reach everyone. It may be easier to have buses or a logistical fleet that goes back and forth. However, on a public highway, attracting many users is critical. And multiple users are good, but it’s also harder to get the adaptation as quickly as we’d like to.??

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6. As a CEO advancing the adoption of green technology, what have you learned about the role of business leaders to make a positive sustainable impact??

We are so aligned as a leadership group and the core founding team. We need to make decisions that scale our solution as quickly as possible to make the largest climate impact. For us, we don’t have an internal misalignment or arguments, we all have the same goal and vision.??

And I think it’s easier if you share the vision because you can discuss how to get there together, we often ask ourselves: what is our vision, how do we get there and what are the obstacles.?

I am also a true believer in being very transparent, so I share with the team the financials, updates, challenges, and celebrate our successes. So, when we won the Paris tender, I bought the Lego model of the Eiffel Tower and we all built the set as a team activity. As a business leader, I try to balance the important stuff with also being playful at the same time.??

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7. Paving the way for a more sustainable future will require creative innovations, such as electric road technology. How do you plan to position Elonroad as a crucial stakeholder catalyzing the green transition??

We have a clear “land and expand,” strategy, we are trying to find curious customers who want to make a difference. And who also do not need certain answers for everything straight away, because we are not able to provide everything. So, finding customers who want to try our technology and who have a high decarbonization agenda, where that is in the world doesn’t matter. Currently, we’ve identified California and the State of New York as prospective markets for Elonroad’s next expansion. We have a US subsidiary now and we are a part of two tenders for port activities in California to help decarbonize shipping operations.??

Overall, we’re 20 people in a garage in Lund and we have managed to get some kind of awareness. And I think it’s because it is intriguing to see new solutions to problems.?

Heart Aerospace is engineering a regional 30-seat hybrid electric aircraft for commercial use, leading the future of sustainable air travel. Heart is collaborating closely with airliners, such as Air Canada and United Airlines, in addition to securing a total of 250 purchase orders. The ES-30 aircraft can transport 30 passengers for 200 kilometers on battery, a distance which can be extended with an additional 200 kilometers utilizing a reserve-hybrid configuration. Before the end of the decade, Heart’s electric fleet will enter commercial service, transporting passengers across regional routes in Scandinavia, North America, and New Zealand. Our conversation with Christina Zander, Head of Communication, highlighted the team’s anticipation of battery advancements and goal to boost regional travel networks through sustainable air travel.??

Flying to New, Electric, Heights - Interview with Christina Zander, Head of Communication at Heart Aerospace?

Heart Aerospace is engineering a regional 30-seat hybrid electric aircraft for commercial use, leading the future of sustainable air travel. Heart is collaborating closely with airliners, such as Air Canada and United Airlines, in addition to securing a total of 250 purchase orders. The ES-30 aircraft can transport 30 passengers for 200 kilometers on battery, a distance which can be extended with an additional 200 kilometers utilizing a reserve-hybrid configuration. Before the end of the decade, Heart’s electric fleet will enter commercial service, transporting passengers across regional routes in Scandinavia, North America, and New Zealand. Our conversation with Christina Zander, Head of Communication, highlighted the team’s anticipation of battery advancements and goal to boost regional travel networks through sustainable air travel.??

1. Heart Aerospace is revolutionizing regional air travel, aiming to make electrified aviation a reality. What drives Heart Aerospace to innovate and re-imagine air transport???

Heart was started by Anders and Klara Forslund, the founders, in 2018 when the Norwegian government stated they wanted all their domestic flights to be electric by 2040. Before starting Heart, Anders was an aerospace researcher at Chalmers and a driving force behind the research project Elise-Electric Aviation in Sweden. He realized, there is no product to cater to the Norwegian demand. If these are the mandates, this is the trend, we need to create it. Flying is amazing, it’s an amazing infrastructure that connects people all around the world, but you need to get rid of the emissions and you need to decarbonize. Only a small part of the world’s population has been on a plane, and as economies grow in Africa and Asia, more people will want to fly. Air travel will grow very fast and as other sectors decarbonize, the share of transportation-related emissions from air travel will increase. Air travel needs to be conducted without emissions. We need to start somewhere, and we need to start developing technologies to preserve air travel for future generations.?

2. As Heart develops electrified aircraft, the team has collaborated with airline companies to adjust the planes’ design and structure – could you speak more about Heart Aerospace’s ongoing dialogue with large airlines at the development stage??

Heart Aerospace started with the ES-19, a fully electric 19-seat airplane, which was tailor made for the Nordic market, but as the company grew and developed a dialogue with potential customers about what the product needed to do, Heart ended up going for a bigger plane.?

Additionally, there are still many limitations with batteries compared to jet fuel as the energy density of batteries is much lower than that of jet fuel. This means you carry a lot of weight with batteries. If you look at an airplane, you also need fuel reserves because there are strict safety regulations. You need to be able to fly to an airport, you also need to be able to circulate that airport for 45 minutes. After circulating for 45 minutes, you need to be able to redirect to another airport that is 185 kilometers away. Given the limitations of a completely battery powered system, Heart pivoted to a reserve-hybrid model. The hybrid system allows the plane to fly battery electric but also has fuel to recharge the batteries if you need to prolong the cruise. That is the ES-30, Heart’s current aircraft model.??

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3. The ES-30 plane utilizes an innovative propulsion system leveraging both batteries and reserve-hybrid turbogenerators. How do you anticipate hybrid aircraft evolving given projected innovations to battery technologies??

Heart is following all the technological advances happening in the industry, if you look at the history, batteries are becoming more efficient and cost-effective. Batteries will only improve over time and the battery industry is starting to notice aerospace as a new area as well.??

Heart Aerospace is designing an airplane that will fly for many years. Thus, the airplane is designed for batteries to be swapped every 1 and half to 2 years. So, step by step the plane will be able to fly further. We are collaborating with BAE Systems on the development of the battery pack, but we have not yet disclosed a battery cell producer.??

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4. Heart Aerospace has received over 90 letters of intent from airlines such as Icelandair, BRA, Air Canada, United, and SAS to purchase ES-30 planes – how do industry collaborations propel your company forward??

Even though Heart Aerospace initially designed an airplane for the Nordic region, the ES-30 has a global appeal. We have a total of 250 firm orders for the ES-30, with options and purchase rights for an additional 120 planes. The company also has letters of intent for a further 91 airplanes.??

An important aspect in the development of the ES-30 is industry collaboration. To provide input on the design, development, and commercialization of the ES-30, Heart Aerospace has an industry advisory board, which consists of airlines, leasing companies and airports from all over the world. They each represent a key part of the aviation ecosystem necessary to support the electrification of air travel.??

We must deliver a product that works for them in their existing business model. If we are going to electrify air travel, we also need to involve airports to begin gauging what investments to make. We need governments, municipalities, airports, and airlines – an ecosystem of stakeholders to make electrification happen. We cannot just build a plane and have nowhere to charge it.?

5. Heart Aerospace aims to bring its ES-30 to commercial service – before the end of the decade – what challenges could the team face in the next five years as you work towards that milestone??

We are building an airplane, but on top of that we are also building “the machine that builds the machine” – the company. The company has grown from about 30 people to about 200 people in two years. That means we need to build new processes and relationships and make sure the orchestra plays in one tune.??

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6. Currently, electrified planes are projected to support regional air travel up to 400 kilometers using hybrid energy sources. How does Heart Aerospace re-envision the future of regional travel??

Our product is interesting to regional airports, especially because regional routes have declined over the past few decades. More and more regional airports have lost service entirely because the technology that exists today makes short routes very expensive to operate. It is more economically viable for airlines to fly longer routes.??

The industry has trended towards bigger airplanes that fly longer because that is most cost efficient, which also means that shorter routes have disappeared. Electric power is cheaper than jet fuel, and an electric motor requires less maintenance, meaning we can reduce operational costs allowing airlines to operate routes that are not economically viable today. On top of that, with an electric plane we have no local pollution, and we can taxi without noise. Our quiet planes make regional airports, closer to urban areas, more attractive to use.??

We see this as an opportunity to regrow regional routes. Especially in the United States, which has lost much of its regional service. Our technology would enable a resurgence of these routes. We call it the greenest, most affordable, and most accessible form of travel.?