All-French players
The public-private consortium involved in this project draws on 100% French expertise and innovation. Alstom is contributing its expertise in rail electrification systems, while Université Gustave Eiffel is sharing its experience in the research and development of innovative solutions for sustainable mobility. Pronergy has expertise in onboard energy conversion systems and Greenmot is involved in the conversion of industrial and public vehicles. ATMB, the project leader, is providing its motorway network and the local knowledge of its teams for full scale testing on a mountain motorway.
French and European funding
With funding from the French government as part of France 2030, from the European Union – Next Generation EU in connection with the France Relance plan, and from BPI France as part of the call for projects, eRoadMontBlanc is a major step forward in the development of electric mobility in Europe. eRoadMontBlanc has been accredited by the CARA and INDURA clusters.
The partners
« The consortium partners are proud to be part of this ambitious initiative and firmly believe that ground-level power supply technology will play a key role in the transition to a more sustainable mobility. »
Autoroutes et Tunnel du Mont Blanc (ATMB) is constantly on the lookout for new modes of transport to help reduce carbon emissions. ATMB’s actions are based on three key values: safety, mobility and ecology. Through its mountain crossings and shorter distances, ATMB brings drivers closer together by reducing their journey times, while protecting their safety.
Set in the centre of the Alpes at the base of the Mont-Blanc, ATMB serves Switzerland via two cross-border motorway links and Italy via the Mont Blanc Tunnel, for which it holds the concession with its Italian counterpart SITMB. ATMB is owned by the French State, local authorities and private shareholders. It holds a concession contract with the French government until 2050.
ATMB is the project leader and will host the first intelligent electric roads in the eRoadMontBlanc project.
As a worldwide leader in sustainable and intelligent mobility, Alstom’s commitments contribute to a low-carbon future by developing and promoting sustainable and innovative mobility solutions. From highspeed trains, metro trains, monorails and trams to integrated systems, infrastructure, signalling solutions and digital mobility, Alstom delivers the broadest portfolio in the industry to its diverse customers. With a presence in 64 countries and more than 84,700 employees from 184 nationalities, the Group focuses its expertise in design, innovation and project management on those areas where mobility solutions are most needed. Alstom is publicly traded in France and achieved sales of € 17.6 billion for the financial year ending 31 March 2024.
Many cities are setting increasingly ambitious targets to reduce their carbon emissions; some like Paris, Brussels and Madrid, want to completely phase out internal combustion engines by 2030. This makes electric road projects a promising technology for the future, and one that will continue to develop.
For the eRoadMontBlanc project, Alstom is contributing its expertise in rail electrification systems, which have already proven their worth in the past.
Pronergy designs, manufactures, integrates and qualifies the energy conversion solutions and power electronics of tomorrow as an electronic equipment and systems supplier, particularly for land and sea vehicles.
As part of the project, Pronergy is tasked with creating the onboard electronic control system and its electronic integration in heavy goods vehicles and light commercial vehicles, for environmental perception, and with building the test bench and qualifying the current sensor.
Greenmot is an innovative SME based in the Lyon region, offering innovative R&D testing methods and resources to provide impartial support to manufacturer and equipment suppliers in the development of tomorrow’s vehicles. Thanks to its know-how, the company is now developing retrofit kits to convert heavy combustion vehicles into zero emission electric vehicles.
The company brings to the project its expertise in retrofitting, as well as its skills in vehicle integration and the operation of test facilities. It will be tasked with converting a heavy goods vehicle into an electric vehicle and fitting it with the “frotteur”, the retractable current collection device. The vehicle will then be tested upstream in the Greenmot test facilities to validate all areas of operation (climate, stabilised power) prior to road testing.
For the first time in France, the Université Gustave Eiffel combines a university with a Grande École (a prestigious higher education facility) and a research organisation. It develops national and international collaborations to train, innovate and imagine the regions of today and tomorrow. Part of the university’s remit is to conduct scientific research in the fields of transport and infrastructure, as well as to support public policy in order to inform decision making. In this area, it is contributing to the decarbonisation of transport.
The university also manages major scientific facilities, and co-owns the Transpolis testing platform on which the project trials are taking place.
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