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Scotland can – and must – learn from Sweden’s electric road

By Jamie Paterson, 13 January 2022

As Scotland moves towards a greener future, radical development in infrastructure is needed to legitimise the Scottish Government’s claim to climate leadership. From 2030, the sale of new combustion vehicles, including cars, vans, and lorries, will be prohibited in the UK. This, alongside electric vehicles’ (EV) increasing share of the market and a lack of charging facilities, means that Scotland needs to do more to accommodate the rise of electric transport and demonstrate climate leadership. 

In rural areas of Scotland such as Argyll or the Highlands, EV charging points are few and far between. This lack of infrastructure highlights the inconvenience of operating an EV in Scotland; not only do drivers need to take sometimes lengthy detours to charge their vehicles, but many charging stations have limited capacity and charge times of up to ten hours. Rural infrastructure must be adapted in order to combat combustion engine related emissions, which are the largest single source of greenhouse gases in Scotland. Without significant improvements, there will be little incentive and limited practicality for rural communities adapting to majority-electric transport, jeopardising Scotland’s efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

While one solution may be found in simply installing more charge points across Scotland – such as the Electric A9 project – installing a single charging unit can cost up to £40,000. To expand current infrastructure in this way would be highly costly and fails to mitigate the lengthy waits EV owners face while charging. Instead, it may be beneficial for the Scottish Government to take inspiration from Sweden’s eRoadArlanda project – utilising new technology to provide mobile charging for EVs  on the road.

The process of electrifying roads entails installing charging rails on the road surface, to which a vehicle-mounted mobile conductor can be attached in order to supply a vehicle’s battery with power. By using mobile charging technology, the need for drivers to stop at a static charging point is eliminated, making EV ownership more feasible for many, especially in rural areas where charging infrastructure is currently limited. 

Targeting trunk roads in Sweden (with as few as 5,000 kilometres of electrified roads believed to provide sufficient charging infrastructure), eRoadArlanda aims to provide EVs with reliable access to rural areas. Only two to four percent of the Swedish road network would need to undergo electrification for this to be realised, as battery power is sufficient for trips between trunk roads. Similarly, Scotland’s trunk roads serve large portions of rural areas with connections across the Kintyre Peninsula and deep into the Highlands where charging infrastructure is sparse. By electrifying Scotland’s trunk roads, an EV driver could travel between, for example, Campbeltown and Thurso with ease – which at present would pose a significant challenge due to issues over vehicle range and the distance between rural charging stations. Other, more remote communities could also be reached with ease as EV batteries would be sufficient to cover the distances between trunk roads, minimising the time vehicles would spend without charging and greatly enhancing their range.

Scotland’s existing infrastructure could be utilised to improve the accessibility of EVs. Electrifying trunk roads circumvents the need to build a large number of static charging stations across Scotland, and with the potential to lay one kilometre of electric rail in the space of an hour, disruption is minimised and could perhaps be implemented during routine resurfacing. Therefore, no new infrastructure is necessarily needed – rather, an upgrade of Scotland’s existing transport infrastructure could prove to be hugely beneficial in terms of encouraging the adoption of EVs.

Electrifying Scotland’s roads is not without its issues, however. A large volume of EVs drawing power from roadways could put significant pressure on the electric grid which would require further development to manage. Political willpower could also be hard to come by, as low population density in targeted areas would limit the usefulness of electrified roads to the majority of people. It may even ultimately be unnecessary – the range of EV batteries is growing, meaning that on-route charging might only be needed for “rare long-distance travel days”. Questions may also be raised about the cost of electrifying roads, which could prove “prohibitively expensive”.

In practice, eRoadArlanda’s pilot project was considered “surprisingly cost effective” however, with estimations that  electric roads could pay for themselves in under three years. When compared with the high costs of installing static charging points across Scottish road networks, it appears that the electrification of Scotland’s roads could be more efficient than the current policy of building new charging stations. With over £85,000,000 spent on resurfacing Scotland’s trunk roads from 2018 to 2019 alone, incorporating the electrification of these roads seems within reach.

Scotland’s status as a climate leader has been questioned by climate activist Greta Thunberg despite the Scottish Government’s “laudable ambitions” in climate-linked areas such as decarbonising transport, facilitating 84% of the UK’s reforestation, and having 97.4% of energy demand met by renewable sources. If more is to be done, electrifying Scotland’s trunk roads may be one route to strengthening the claim to climate leadership. In Sweden, electrified roads are predicted to cut greenhouse gas emissions from transport by up to 90%,  indicating that implementation could be highly beneficial in meeting Scotland’s goal of “ending [its] contribution to climate change by 2045.” Should the Scottish Government follow this example – which has been touted as revitalising Swedish competitiveness in green technology – Scotland could promote its image as a pioneer in climate governance.

Sweden’s electric road has set an important precedent for efficient vehicle charging infrastructure. As a source of knowledge, its potential is invaluable for nations seeking to decarbonise commercial and civil transport. And, as a means of making EVs more appealing for rural drivers, it could prove crucial in the shift towards green transport. Pursuing a policy of electrifying Scotland’s trunk roads is a bold move, but boldness is needed to combat climate change and solidify Scotland’s global image as an effective climate leader.

Jamie Paterson graduated from the University of Stirling with a Masters in International Conflict and Cooperation in 2020. His ongoing research interests include global climate governance and EU & Scottish policymaking.

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Keir Starmer elected as Labour party leader – so, who is he?

Eric Shaw, University of Stirling, first published in The Conversation, 4 April 2020

Party leaders matter more than ever in today’s politics. They embody their parties in the public’s mind and, for many voters, assessing a leader is a cognitive shortcut simplifying the process of electoral choice. So, Keir Starmer’s election as the UK’s Labour party leader, defeating Rebecca Long-Bailey (the “continuity candidate”) and Lisa Nandy, will have a major effect on the party’s prospects for revival.

Starmer starts in the job during a global crisis that few can have anticipated. At this moment in time, it’s impossible even to guess the political consequences of the Coronavirus epidemic, though they are bound to be profound. It’s pointless to speculate how the pandemic will affect Starmer’s leadership, other than much will depend on his capacity to inspire trust and confidence in an age of fear, anxiety and insecurity.

Starmer was only elected to parliament in 2015. He therefore enters his new role with less political experience than any of his predecessors. But he has accumulated invaluable experience outside politics. On joining the bar, he rapidly established himself as one of the brightest barristers of his generation. In 2002, he was appointed a Queen’s Counsel (QC) and became joint head of Doughty Street Chambers (Amal Clooney was a colleague) specialising in human rights cases.

In 2008, he was appointed to one of the most senior positions in the judicial system, becoming director of public prosecutions (DPP) and head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), staying in the post until 2013. He was held in high regard in the profession and, in 2014, received a knighthood for services to law and criminal justice. Those who worked with him attest to his integrity, his meticulous attention to detail, his diligence and his keen forensic skills.

In 2016, a year after his election, Starmer joined the shadow cabinet in the crucial role of shadow Brexit secretary. He tended to be low key, avoiding controversy and the factional battles tearing the party apart. However, relations with the Corbyn wing of the party could be tense.

During the leadership contest, some on the left depicted Starmer as a classic establishment figure – well-groomed, well-spoken and a knight to boot. More seriously, he was held responsible for the crushing 2019 election defeat for his determined advocacy of a second Brexit referendum and his close association with the Remainer cause. On more personal grounds, he was disparaged (and not only by Corbyistas) as bland, wooden, lacking in personality and charm and with no capacity to enthuse.

Surprisingly little is known about Starmer’s political beliefs or ideological standpoint. For virtually all his life as an MP, he has served on the frontbench, which means he has been constrained by the conventions of collective responsibility from articulating his views outside his own brief. So while we know much about his views as a human rights lawyer on matters of civil liberty and criminal justice, we know little of his thinking on questions of social and economic policy.

However, he has also been careful to avoid aligning with either the more vociferous Labour tribes – the Blairites and the Corbynistas – and most people surmise (in my view accurately) that his sympathies lie on the soft left of the party.

The implications of Starmer’s triumph for Labour’s policy is, as yet, unclear. But there is no doubt there will be a major change in leadership style. Here it may be useful to apply sociologist Max Weber’s distinction between leadership that follows the “ethic of ultimate ends” and that which is shaped by the “ethic of responsibility”.

The believer in an ethic of ultimate ends views their task as a single-minded dedication to a cause and his unquestioned faith in his values. This was the ethic that regulated Corbyn’s conduct as leader, as manifested by his conviction that he always occupied the moral high ground, that he possessed a monopoly on political rectitude and that those who disagreed were motivated by malign intentions.

The “ethic of responsibility” is governed by the idea that the ethical order is, by nature, pluralist and that people can quite legitimately, and in good faith, disagree. In this model, dictates of morality are rarely unambiguous and leadership should be judged not by the purity of its intentions but by results.

Starmer’s record as a lawyer, his performance as a frontbencher and his personal disposition all suggest that his conception of leadership will follow this path. One can, therefore, predict that he will give priority to binding party fractures and to managing the party though persuasion, conciliation and coalition-building.

In a “broad church” approach, he will try to integrate senior figures on the Corbyn left (such as Long-Bailey) in the collective leadership. But he is no doubt aware that some will be irreconcilable. Given that the Corbyn left is well entrenched in the governing National Executive Council (though they will lose their majority), the constituency parties and some unions, it will be interesting to see how Starmer responds.

Corbyn decisively failed due to an inability to establish a rapport with the bulk of the electorate. To forge such a rapport, leaders must be able not only to articulate the party’s policies and principles with clarity and conviction but also evoke confidence in their capacity to discharge the responsibilities of government.

Starmer in his public appearances has demonstrated that he has the capacity to communicate fluently and persuasively, to master complex briefs and to think on his feet. He may not come over as a charismatic figure, nor one equipped with great oratorical skills. Nor one, indeed, one who can electrify his audience. But perhaps, in these very troubled circumstances, people are looking for a calm, steady and reassuring hand at the till.

Eric Shaw, Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Stirling

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.