What’s the worst thing that could happen? Magnus Nilsson, a unit head at RISE, hesitates a little, but then answers: 

“The worst-case scenario is someone hacking a number of electric vehicles being charged in an indoor car park. They overcharge the batteries and set fire to the entire car park. And if you have a residential building above, well, things can develop pretty quickly.” 

“When an electric vehicle ignites, it produces an extremely fierce and toxic fire that’s difficult to extinguish.”  

In October 2024, Sweden had more than 45,000 registered charging points. This is still less than the EU recommendation of one public charging point for every ten vehicles*, so we can expect to see a continued expansion over the next few years.  

This means that countless organisations and associations, with no previous experience of providing this type of service, will become charging providers. The board of a housing cooperative, hoteliers, restaurant branch managers and others are to suddenly understand and plan for the risks associated with providing electric vehicle charging. 

“This knowledge is often lacking,” says Nilsson.  

There are multiple risk factors that both providers and users need to be protected from: incorrect settings that can cause personal injury or property damage, cyber attacks, unauthorised charging, complicated handling and more. 

Package offering with inspections and certification 

Accordingly, RISE is now launching a package offering with regular charging station inspections as well as the certification and testing of charging components and infrastructure.  

Ted Strandberg is a project manager at RISE with a focus on cyber security. He says that the current NIS directive** and new EU regulations will mean mandatory safety requirements for everything from product development and operation to incident management. 

There is good reason to prepare for the stricter rules that are on their way in, he says. 

The cyber threats that charging providers need to be prepared for mainly concern payments (incorrect fees, free charging), the overcharging of batteries resulting in fire, and disruptions to the power grid. 

“Someone could hack the charging station via the vehicle, or vice versa, hack the vehicle via the charging station,” says Strandberg. 

“If someone manages to hack their way in and disrupt the charging stations by switching the charging function on and off for several vehicles at the same time, it could have a major impact on the power grid and risk damaging equipment.” 

The goal: Harmonised regulations across the EU 

One goal is to achieve harmonised regulations, at either EU or national level, Nilsson explains. 

“At the moment, countless charging posts are being installed before all the regulations are in place. My personal opinion is that the two should go hand in hand.” 

He explains that there is concern in the industry that stations are being installed by insufficiently qualified individuals. 

“This is why we started a project group for charging stations. To help the market see what rules are coming and to ensure that consumers get the energy they pay for.” 

Verification services an existing offering 

RISE has long offered trade and industry verification services for, among other things, scales and fuel meters. 

“In the case of standard petrol and diesel pumps, for example, we check whether the right software version is installed. The right electronics? Are all installations in order? Is it truly type-approved?” 

The equivalent service will now be offered for charging stations. 

“We’ve developed mobile equipment that we’re currently field testing. We’re collecting measurement data from different types of charging stations to form a picture of the market situation. Will we find meters that can’t be tested? Is everything installed correctly? What do the meters show?” 

How long does a regular charging station inspection like this take? 

Nilsson says that RISE is testing about 100 different charging stations from various manufacturers. Then they will establish a standard method. 

“At the moment, we’re timing the inspections. But they don’t take several hours. We’re looking at being able to test several charging stations at the same time. The inspections need to be optimised, efficient and effective.” 

*As of October 2024, Sweden had about 14 vehicles per charging point. 

**NIS2 has been adopted by the European parliament and includes, among other things, higher penalty fees. 

Within the framework of the EU plan for the green transition, Fit for 55, the EU parliament’s committee on transport and tourism has stated that it would like to see a faster expansion of the charging infrastructure along Europe’s main roads. The goal of having short distances between charging stations and fast chargers entails great business opportunities for charging station suppliers.  

However, to be allowed to sell the products, they need to be tested and certified in compliance with regulations and standards concerning, for example, electrical safety, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), functionality and electricity metering. They also need to be tested in terms of cyber security. This is to avoid hackers being able to use the charging stations to gain access to the vehicles being charged or, worse still, to overcharge the vehicle’s battery resulting in a high fire risk. 

“We need to prevent a number of undesirable events and threats,” says Anders Nilsson, senior business developer at RISE. 

Battery storage an exciting feature that entails risks 

RISE can both test and certify charging components in compliance with regulations and standards concerning, for example, electrical safety, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), functionality and electricity metering. We also offer a special additional service within cyber security — an area that not only attracts innovative hackers, but also faces a range of new regulations. 

Ted Strandberg, a project manager at RISE with a focus on cyber security, has, for example, examined how connected electric vehicles could act as battery storage for the power grid, via the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) system. In future scenarios, technology is often presented as an important flexibility service. 

In practice, a charging station manufacturer or provider could offer such battery storage as backup for the power grid. Vehicle owners would also be able to buy and sell electricity at favourable times. 

“If we consider it in terms of cyber security, there are risks. Imagine if this entire battery storage system was hacked and all vehicles sent power back to the grid at the same time. If you get too far outside the power grid frequency, damage will occur.” 

Multiple cyber security standards 

Strandberg says that there are a number of cyber security standards for which RISE is already accredited and can test compliance with. 

“We’re also preparing to be able to test compliance with the EU’s new cyber security regulations, which will come into force over the next few years.” 

“I also believe that third-party scrutiny offers peace of mind to buyer and seller alike. Buyers feel that they aren’t alone in making their decision. And sellers gain a certificate showing that they’ve done what they can.” 

In recent years, the EU has started to regulate increasingly more aspects of data use, in the shape of data protection, AI and cyber security. Strandberg also mentions the revised version of the so-called NIS2 directive as a further tightening of safety requirements within, for example, transportation and energy. 

“The directive states, among other things, that you are obliged to implement incident management procedures and report an incident [in Sweden, to MSB, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency]. I think this will help create preparedness at companies to handle attacks.” 

Risk management rule breaches can lead to fines 

In the updated directive, companies breaching the risk management rules or failing to submit an incident report risk hefty fines of up to ten million euros, or two percent of their global sales. The GDPR and the AI Act have similar mechanisms. 

Strandberg also mentions the radio directive’s new cyber security requirements, which need to be met to sell products containing radio communication components.

“We focus on evaluating cybersecurity in products and organizations to ensure compliance with regulations. We also offer penetration testing of charging stations, where an ethical hacker attempts to breach the system and, based on identified vulnerabilities, produces a report,” says Strandberg. 

“It's been a crazy time to make a billion dollar investment like this. But we are extremely proud and happy to now be able to open the doors to three new test environments for electromobility. And the interest, well, that’s grown more than the construction index and timber prices,” says Henrik Svenningstorp. 

Full-scale vehicle testing 

Henrik Svenningstorp is CEO of SEEL,owned by RISE and Chalmers University of Technology and which in 2023 will begin testing vehicles and components for electromobility on a full scale in Gothenburg, Borås and Nykvarn. 

“We’re not trying to be the best at making batteries or electric motors, we’re simply trying to be the best at measuring them. In Säve, we have facilities covering some 15,000 square metres with essentially everything you need to test whatever needs to be tested within electromobility: batteries, shafts, vehicles, electrical components, noise and vibration, charging systems… The facility in Nykvarn is a little smaller, with a focus on heavy vehicles. This is where, for example, we have the most powerful equipment for testing electric motor shafts. The only thing we can’t do in Gothenburg or Nykvarn is safety-critical and destructive testing. That we do in Borås.” 

"The lab for safety-critical testing in Borås is a world-leading test environment with the greatest possible concern for the environment. All tests take place in a controllable and fully repeatable indoor environment, and thanks to a state-of-the-art treatment plant, both flue gases and extinguishing water are taken care of, which means the highest possible environmental friendliness when testing batteries", says Michael Rahm, department manager for Fire and Safety at RISE.

The fume treatment plant can handle 170,000 cubic metres of smoke an hour. This makes it possible to incinerate an entire passenger car in an orderly fashion, taking care of all the fumes and measuring their composition. Since the facility is run by RISE, certification will be possible from the outset. The long-term ambition is to accumulate extensive technical expertise that will enable the testbed to offer virtual testing as well. 

The goal: A neutral meeting place for small, innovative companies to meet major players 

“Our goal is clear: We want to be a neutral meeting place conducive to new collaborations, whether between large and small companies or industry, academia and institutes. Europe has relatively few open and accessible testing facilities of this size. And we’re well aware that large companies appreciate the innovation boost they can gain from collaborating with smaller, innovative companies. Similarly, smaller companies may need to test their ideas in the environments in which major players are found while protecting their future patents,” Svenningstorp explains. 

In collaboration with RISE, it will be possible to support small companies seeking funding for their first major investments. SEEL will be judged by its owners on how well it succeeds in encouraging collaboration. Four major industrial companies are involved in the project as guaranteed customers, and their testing needs are extensive. Parallel to this, there is room for other companies of different sizes, and should space prove to be limited as time goes by, there are ambitions to expand.  

Sharply increased interest in recent years 

“There’s a great deal going on right now. Since receiving our EU approval in 2019, interest has only increased. We’re also busy on several fronts. In Säve, parts of the laboratory are even prepared for hydrogen and fuel cells, a possible replacement power source for all large vehicles with internal combustion engines currently trafficking the roads that need to transition. We’ve entered into a partnership with the shipping industry and signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with several stakeholders.”  

Initial contact has been made with the aviation industry. Svenningstorp underlines that while there are major differences between truck and jet engines, the differences between electric motors for different types of transport are smaller. 

“In principle, if we can measure rotational speed, torque, current and voltage, then we can test a powertrain regardless of whether it’s for a vehicle, a ship or an aircraft.” 

“We’ll also be able to test infrastructure, such as charging stations. For some areas of the recycling industry, our labs may prove necessary when making new products from what is currently treated as waste. The same applies to the energy industry, which is developing vehicle-to-load and vehicle-to-grid – different systems for using electric vehicle batteries for energy storage.” 

Facilities designed for education and training 

On top of all this, there is a need to train the workforce for all the battery factories and other operations in the growing electromobility industry. The testbed facilities are designed to enable education and training. 

“We are now ready to open our three sites with grand openings in September. These are exciting times,” Svenningstorp ends. 

The European battery industry is growing at a rapid rate. There are plans for no fewer than fifty factories spread across sixteen countries. Annual battery cell production capacity is estimated at 2,100 GWh by 2030, enough to power more than 30 million electric vehicles.

Many companies are focused on the automotive industry – including manufacturers of utility vehicles for the shipping, rail and aviation industries – but there is also a strong focus on stationary energy storage and industrial applications, such as within forestry and mining.

A massive transition

For RISE, the new safety lab is a way to contribute expertise in the value chain for batteries. Electrification is giving rise to new battery technologies as well as new manufacturers alongside established industrial companies.

“Electrification entails a massive transition. The automotive industry hasn’t seen such a major technology shift for over a century; a shift that fundamentally alters vehicle designs. This includes cars, trucks, tractors, mining machines, construction machines, agricultural machines and even stationary machines”, says Franz Evegren.

The safety lab is one of three facilities included in the RISE and Chalmers testbed for technology and concepts within electrified transport. The lab in Borås will be focused on safety tests related to charging and discharging, vibrations, mechanical shocks, thermal runaway and fire risks.

Max Rosengren, safety and transport project manager at RISE, came up with the idea for the lab. An idea based on the actual risks affecting battery technology in the shape of overpressure leading to a state of thermal runaway with uncontrollable temperature increases, gas leakage and fire as a result.

“These are similar to the risks seen in vehicles with internal combustion engines. However, this type of testing requires premises and equipment that can handle these types of fire and overpressure risks,” Rosengren explains.

An internationally unique facility

In concrete terms, the lab’s three buildings are crammed with many wonderful things for test personnel: vibrators, shaker rigs, chambers and cabinets of various sizes to simulate heating and cooling, equipment for running battery cycles and, the jewel in the crown, a test chamber measuring 130 m² with half-metre-thick concrete walls for running destructive tests.

“The safety lab is of our own invention. Say, for example, that a battery needs to be shaken in a shaker rig. There are standards for this, standards that attempt to emulate real-life conditions. If a car manufacturer were to perform the same test with charged batteries in a facility that isn’t designed for such safety-critical testing, things could go terribly wrong if a fire were to break out,” Evegren explains.

“The lab is prepared for circumstances in which things go terribly wrong. Were a battery to enter a state of thermal runaway, the lab is designed to prevent anything being destroyed.”

Both RISE experts say, quite simply, that it would not be financially viable to build such a resource for an individual company.

“In terms of performance, there’s no other facility in Sweden that can match it, with the possible exception of within the military industry,” Rosengren says.

“Customers won’t only be from the automotive industry. They could be from just about any sector, and it need not involve batteries. If you want to shock something with up to 800 kilonewtons, in a rapid and extremely powerful impact, you can do so at this facility.”

Reliable and eco-friendly

The fact that the facility is fully enclosed offers a couple of competitive advantages. On the one hand, the tests are more reliable and easier to repeat under identical conditions, and on the other hand, toxic fumes can be captured and purified using water.

Until now, the alternative has been to perform such tests outdoors. To allow untreated fumes and extinguishing water into the environment.

“Very many countries in Europe permit outdoor testing. Here, the idea is to do right by nature, and to do so in a controlled environment under conditions that are constant and repeatable”, Rosengren ends.

"The display in my electric car didn't work this morning; there was probably something wrong with a semiconductor," Ascatron co-founder Christian Vieider says with a chuckle. 

Semiconductors are found in almost all electronics, in everything from refrigerators to cars. Silicon is the most common semiconductor material. Over two thousand silicon chips are required to enable the energy conversion in an electric car. As more features are introduced in vehicles, such as self-driving, even greater numbers of chips in more energy-efficient materials are needed. The next generation of silicon carbide semiconductors consumes less energy and has more transistors. 

Christian walks up the spiral staircase at Isafjordsgatan 22 in Kista. It leads to the Electrum lab, a test bed for nanoconductor and semiconductor technology operated by RISE in close collaboration with KTH (Royal Institute of Technology). This is where Ascatron's journey began ten years ago. At the time, Christian was working with the commercialization of RISE technology for energy-efficient silicon carbide. 

In 2011, Ascatron was formed by four employees from Acreo, now part of RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. Ascatron has been owned by II-VI (two-six) since 2020, and they now mainly manufacture silicon carbide wafers, a key technology in many power electronics applications. 

Commercialization of silicon carbide – from material development to components 

Christan turns in towards the corridor on the fifth floor. There, Ascatron and RISE researchers are working side by side in the Electrum lab. He walks into a meeting room and sits down. 

At the Electrum lab, Christian and the research team manufacture the epitaxial layer of the semiconductor, that is, the active layer in the component that determines how much voltage it can withstand. This technology laid the foundation for Ascatron, which was spun off from RISE in 2011.  

"The market was ready," says Christian, leaning back in his chair. "There was a demand for silicon carbide, and RISE already had customers buying this semiconductor material. The initial idea was to build a factory to scale up the manufacturing technology and then form a company. The next step was to find investors." 

Ascatron was early in creating larger epitaxial wafers and went from making wafers of 100 millimeters to wafers of 150 millimeters. It enabled twice as many components per wafer, and the company gained an advantageous position in the market. Ascatron initiated collaboration with major component manufacturers, such as ABB.  

"We had come as far as we could with material manufacturing, and in 2015, we started developing silicon carbide components on our epitaxial wafer," continues Christian. "The components should not only be efficient and have as little energy loss as possible in their electricity conversion, but they also have to be reliable and robust."  

Silicon carbide – an enabler for the fossil-free society 

Society's transition from fossil fuels to electricity is expected to create a sharp rise in electricity use, according to the Swedish Energy Agency, forecasting that electricity use will double by 2050. But to achieve a fossil-free society, energy also needs to be used efficiently, which is why Sweden aims to reach 50 percent more efficient energy use by 2030. 

"The electrification of our society will create new demands on what power electronics need to be able to handle," says Christian. "We are facing a huge challenge in the energy revolution now underway. If Sweden is to increase its electricity production, this type of component is needed to convert the electricity." 

Conversion of electricity causes losses of up to ten percent. When the power from an electrical outlet reaches, for example, an electric car, about ten percent of the energy has already been lost. But components built with the next generation semiconductor materials are more energy efficient. 

"With silicon carbide, you save power and remove about two-thirds of the energy loss compared to silicon chips," he explains. "This means, for example, that you can drive ten to twenty percent longer with your electric car or save the same amount on battery usage. It makes our technology very attractive to the electric car market."  

Electronics giant II-VI invests in Ascatron's silicon carbide technology 

"After a decade, we had come as far as we could with our own development operations," says Christian. "We needed a long-term owner to develop commercial products. It also had to be an established player to be of interest to potential customers such as Volvo or Volkswagen."  

Ascatron's advanced epitaxy wafers in silicon carbide attracted the interest of US semiconductor manufacturer II-VI. The electric car market had taken off. With the acquisition of Ascatron in 2020, II-VI could lift itself into the value chain and offer wafers and components in silicon carbide to manufacturers of electric vehicles.  

"What distinguishes our technology is that we have developed materials that can withstand really high voltages," Christian says. "With this technology, you can develop components that can handle over ten kilovolts, which makes us unique in the market."  

II-VI now has 22 employees in Kista who work with silicon carbide power components and epitaxy production as part of the company's development department. The next step is to continue growing. 

"We will scale up our production in Kista, and we will be able to move from pilot production to delivering on a large scale to our customers. We are now determining where the volume production will be based, but I hope some will be in Sweden, and we can create more jobs here."  

II-VI collaboration with RISE at the Electrum lab 

The fluorescent tubes cast a cold light on the computer screens, microscopes, and machines that line the walls of the Electrum Lab's 1,300 square meter cleanroom. The equipment is used to grow the epitaxial layer of the semiconductor wafers and to process components. Bright yellow pillars and an azure blue epitaxy reactor break with the white and metal grey ISO-certified cleanroom environment. The international standard ensures high quality for the industrial production of semiconductor materials. II-VI collaborates with RISE and KTH experts, clad in ice blue overalls. The protective clothing ensures that the clean manufacturing environment never exceeds ten thousand particles per cubic meter. It can be compared to a typical office with an equivalent volume of millions of particles. 

The power electronics lab, run by RISE, is one floor above the cleanroom. Here, II-VI tests its prototypes with the support of experts from RISE for testing and electrical characterization of its power electronics components. 

After the processed wafer has been cut down into chips, the pieces are encapsulated in, for example, metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET). The experts test the transistors to measure the properties of the components and how well they work when under load. Klas Brinkfeldt is a unit manager at RISE and is responsible for the tests: 

"We provide expertise in the entire chain, from manufacturing and characterizing components to reliability tests, simulations, and material analysis," says Klas. "We're unique in Sweden in being able to offer a complete package and are thus helping with the development of the next generation of power electronics systems."      

RISE's long-term development of wafer manufacturing and fault analysis is now further accelerating in an extended collaborative agreement with II-VI. 

"We hope that we will have even closer collaboration with II-VI in the development and testing of the next-generation silicon carbide components," continues Klas. "We also see that it can create rings in the water and strengthen the entire ecosystem in Kista, thus helping to provide a larger arena for fault analysis of electronic components."  

Christian Vieider explains that collaboration with RISE has been essential for the company's success: 

"The collaboration with RISE has been a crucial success factor for us as our technology is based on 20 years of research at RISE. Access to customers, expertise, and equipment helped us to enter the market quickly."  

"The development of functional and reliable components based on new semiconductor materials is important for us in being able to conserve energy in the power electronics systems of the future," says Klas Brinkfeldt. "New materials such as silicon carbide require in-depth knowledge and new building methods. It will change the electronics industry and how we design, build, and produce wafers and circuits." 

RISE, II-VI, and the South Korean research Institute KATECH (Korea Automotive Technology Institute) have initiated research collaboration in semiconductor technology. The project will increase the efficiency of electric vehicles' power electronics systems.  

"We will manufacture components based on our fundamental technology and jointly design them with RISE," says Christian Vieider. "In the project, we will receive direct feedback from an end customer about how our components work in their application. This collaborative arrangement is invaluable in developing better products." 

Possibilities for the EU's independent semiconductor production 

Since 2021, there has been a shortage of semiconductors, which has crippled the production of electronic products, not least among electric vehicle manufacturers. The semiconductor shortage is expected to ease, but forecasts indicate that the problem will continue for years. The European Commission presented the European Chips Act, a proposal for measures to secure the European innovation and production capacity of semiconductors. 

"It is essential for Europe to become independent in semiconductor production," says Christian. "The production is knowledge-intensive. An example of this is that half of our staff are doctoral researchers. We have a high level of expertise in Europe, which creates good conditions for a European semiconductor manufacturing industry, and our operations can contribute to local silicon carbide production. This morning, my electric car didn't work, probably because there was something wrong with a semiconductor. This tells me the important role semiconductors play in our everyday lives."  

In a hydrogen-powered fuel cell, a chemical reaction takes place between hydrogen and oxygen, which produces electricity to power an electric car – while the residual product is no more hazardous than water vapour. For the process to work, so-called bipolar plates are needed in the fuel cell.

Advantages of composite

The Swedish start-up SSAC has developed a concept for a new type of bipolar plate made of composite, a material that is unusually strong in relation to its weight. The company is also further developing its concept in order to offer bipolar plates in bio-based composite – which makes the plates strong and lightweight, and therefore an environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative to other materials.

“At SSAC, we work with composites, but a few years ago I was with a company that worked on fuel cells, so I was interested in combining these two business areas to see whether composite materials could be used in fuel cells,” says Martin Skrikerud, CEO of SSAC.

Reduced cost is an important factor

The work has shown that the concept gives the plates good properties for a fuel cell, and will allow for mass production in a way that is scalable and cheaper than the materials used today, such as metal or graphite. Cost is an important factor, since one obstacle to the wider use of fuel cell-powered vehicles is that they are relatively expensive at present. And the bipolar plates account for a fairly large part of the costs in a fuel cell.

“It’s a bit like other technologies such as solar cells or batteries, which have been around for a long time but were previously far too expensive to have a large area of use,” explains Skrikerud.

“Similarly, fuel cells have been used for a long time, but the unique thing about our solution is that you can mass produce at a reasonable cost. Potentially, we can almost halve the current costs –
we aren’t making a better product than what exists today, but we make it faster and cheaper.”

Fokus on CO2 emissions in the manufacturing process

In addition to being a cost-effective alternative, SSAC addresses another problem: CO2 emissions in the manufacturing process. For a long time, the focus has very much been on eliminating emissions in the user phase, through batteries or fuel cells, and less on emissions from materials and manufacturing.

“The next step is to find materials and processes for manufacturing that are also CO2 neutral,” says David Mattsson, Research and Business Developer at RISE. “This is what we are trying to achieve in the next step, with materials that are bio-based and can also be recycled.”

Together with RISE, SSAC first performed an evaluation test, which showed good results – initially on a small scale and eventually at larger scales. RISE’s testbed for sustainable composite manufacturing was one of the systems used to test the plates. And according to Skrikerud, there are several strengths in the collaboration:

“RISE has good knowledge of the processes and materials we want to use. And besides, we don’t have the staff or machines to do everything we want to do, so we must enlist the help of others. RISE has the expertise we need.”

Mattson also highlights these strengths:

“Here at RISE, we can easily connect the skills and resources needed for each customer – we have everything under one roof. No matter the development needs we encounter, in most cases we have the solutions within RISE. Seeking out this expertise yourself is not always easy.”

Testbed with many opportunities

At the testbed in Piteå, researchers and companies are able to test, develop, and demonstrate new sustainable materials and manufacturing processes.

“Here, you can work with existing material mixtures or develop your own materials that can be adapted to a certain process,” says Mattsson. “We can also help establish collaborations throughout the value chain, with material suppliers, the automotive industry and end users.

We can also put together research projects and look at things with a lower technology maturity and over a longer term. Plus, we can also offer customers opportunities to work in bilateral projects together with us when product development approaches the final phase. With SSAC, we work with a combination of these working methods, and it’s good to have such a combination throughout, since it allows you to constantly produce new technology from the ground up.”