SEALS
Scandinavian Electrified Autonomous Logistics Scale-up
Powered by Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak
2030 Sekretariat, Grønt Landtransportprogram,
Rådet for Grøn Omstilling & STRING Megaregion
The Highway to Zero
The transport sector is facing a huge transformation. The SEALS project will make Scandinavia’s most important freight corridor fossil-free by pushing the spread of electric trucks and at the same time paving the way for autonomous truck transport. It could become a model for the sustainable logistics of the future.
Although Denmark, Norway and Sweden are at the forefront when it comes to electric vehicles, heavy road transport is still a major climate challenge. Achieving national and European climate goals requires rapid and extensive electrification of trucks. But the road to get there is full of barriers: lack of charging infrastructure, high costs and uncertainty about the political framework.
Project ambition
SEALS – Scandinavian Electrified Autonomous Logistics Scale-up – will develop a roadmap for how the transport corridor Hamburg–Copenhagen–Gothenburg–Oslo–Trondheim can become completely fossil-free by 2035. The project examines what it takes to go from a small number of electric trucks today to thousands on the same route, and analyzes the possibilities for electrification in combination with autonomous (self-driving) transport.
How SEALS will solve the challenge
The project focuses on the so-called ÖKS Zero Corridor, which stretches from Hamburg via Copenhagen, Malmö, Gothenburg and Oslo to Trondheim. Here, SEALS conducts analyses, practical tests and dialogue with authorities. A unique part of the project is to combine electrification with autonomous technology – something that can spread the need for charging over time and reduce infrastructure costs.
Why does the solution work?
The ReduCT pilot project has already shown that systematic scaling up is possible if the right management tools and investments are put in place. SEALS builds on these insights and creates a common knowledge base for three countries. The project is aimed at actors from the transport sector, energy companies and authorities.
Expected results
By 2028, SEALS will deliver:
- Mapping of needs for electricity and charging infrastructure.
- Analysis of where existing infrastructure can be utilized.
- An autonomous transport corridor that makes the Nordic region a leading region.
A common roadmap – “The SEAL Deal” – to achieve full fossil-free status by 2035.
By 2035, the project will create the basis for the ÖKS corridor to become Europe’s fastest-adapted and most scalable model for fossil-free heavy road transport.
Five facts: heavy transport, and how SEALS tackles it
Trucks make up only around 2% of vehicles on EU roads, yet they account for more than 28% of road transport greenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonising freight is the heavy lifting of the green transition, quite literally.
Under EU rules ( Regulation (EU) 2019/1242.), CO2 from new heavy trucks must fall by 65% by 2035 and 90% by 2040 against 2019 levels. The shift to electric heavy transport is only a question of how fast and how smoothly it happens.
Electric trucks can already drive the corridor today, but only a handful do. SEALS works out what it takes to go to up to 5,000 electric trucks on the same route, and to make the corridor fully fossil-free by 2035.
SEALS pairs electric trucks with autonomous (self-driving) transport. Done together, the two can spread charging demand across the day and cut the bill for new grid and charging infrastructure, rather than each transition fighting the other for the same investment.
Running from 2026 to 2028 and funded through Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak, SEALS brings together partners across Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and builds on the ReduCT pilot, which showed that systematic scaling is achievable with the right tools and investment in place.
Expected Results from SEALS
1. Mapping the need for electricity and charging infrastructure
The current grid was not designed with thousands of heavy trucks charging along one corridor in mind. SEALS maps where the demand for electricity and charging will actually land, how much capacity is needed and when, so that operators, energy companies and authorities can plan against real figures instead of guesswork. The result is a clear picture of what large-scale electrification asks of the power system before the trucks arrive, not after.
2. Using what is already there
Building new infrastructure everywhere is slow and expensive. Before reaching for new investment, SEALS analyses where existing infrastructure along the corridor can be put to work, and where genuine gaps remain that only new charging capacity can fill. This tells decision-makers where their money does the most good, and helps the corridor scale up faster by spending on what is missing rather than duplicating what already exists.
3. An autonomous corridor that
puts the Nordics in front
SEALS lays the groundwork for a corridor where self-driving commercial transport can operate, putting the Nordic region among the first movers in autonomous freight. Beyond the headline, autonomy is a practical tool: it can lower the cost of freight, ease the strain that mass charging places on the grid, and support local operators rather than sideline them. The aim is a corridor that other regions in Europe look to as the model worth copying.