How can we transform today's roads into smart 'green highways'?

Transforming today’s gasoline-dependent roads into “green highways” for electric cars is a lot more complex than just adding a few charging stations every 10 or 20 miles.

And considering we’re trying to build an electrified transport system in a short span of time — we don’t have the luxury of the 100-odd years it took to develop the combustion-engine-based road system — it’s important to do it right from the start. That would suggest we need to do some heavy duty virtual modeling before we start any actual building in real life.

That’s exactly what IBM and ZSE, the biggest electric company in Slovakia, aim to do in a joint project to help the capital city of Bratislava get ready for a plug-in car future.

Working together, the companies are studying the best way to develop a “green highway” between Bratislava and the neighboring Austrian city of Vienna, which is about 49 miles away. The project is designed to figure out how to create a network of public charging stations between the cities that can support a new generation of electric cars without stressing the existing power grid.

“Rising fuel prices and energy consumption are two major issues facing many cities around the world,” said Guido Bartels, general manager of IBM’s Global Energy and Utilities Industry. “These factors coupled with aging roads and infrastructures, can affect city planning, local economy, and overall community satisfaction.”

The IBM-ZSE project “tackles all of these issues,” Bartels continued. “It has the potential to introduce a modern, convenient and more intelligent way for consumers to commute, which in turn may encourage more to make the shift to an electric vehicle, while reducing stress on the energy grid.”

The project is part of a larger pilot study called VIBRATe’ (for “VIenna BRATislava E-mobility”). The first of its kind in central Europe, the effort aims to reduce carbon emissions by creating a smarter, more energy-efficient transportation system.