When Gävle was hit by torrential rain and severe flooding in the summer of 2021, the costs of the damage were enormous. Insurance companies paid out over one billion kronor in claims linked to the incident. The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly tangible. Incidents like this underscore the work that needs to be done to transition and adapt our societies to a changing climate. 

“It’s getting serious now,” says Niklas Thidevall, policy researcher at RISE, who conceived the climate resilience certificate system. “We saw in Gävle how a single downpour could have enormous consequences, and this is something that individual property owners, private individuals, and companies that own properties will have to deal with.” 

Risk for both insurance companies and banks 

Insurance companies warn that properties in risk zones may not be able to get the same cover as before, which also creates problems for banks and other entities who lend money with real property as collateral.  

“We are now facing a situation where some properties can be difficult to insure and thus difficult to finance, which creates major challenges,” explains Thidevall. “At the same time, it is currently very difficult for banks to know what risks they are taking.”  

Thidevall highlights two things that became clear with the floods in 2021. Firstly, there is a big difference in how different properties are affected, even in the same area. Secondly, much of the damage could have been mitigated and the risks reduced using relatively simple solutions. A large proportion of the damage in Gävle was linked back to back pressure damage, where wastewater is pushed back into the house, and cold have been avoided with relatively simple means, such as installing a check valve. 

Model for assessing risks 

To increase the resilience of existing buildings, it is important to know more precisely which property has a high risk of being affected, and requirements for predicting and reporting risks will most likely increase in the future. Therefore, a model for assessing the risks of damage related to climate change at the property level has been developed in a feasibility study.  

“We have mainly looked at the risk of flooding, both due to torrential rain and rising sea levels, and sketched out the form such a system could take,” says Thidevall. “We started from an existing example, namely the energy performance certificate that each property has. We have the same scale, although it measures how vulnerable the property is to climate-related risks.”  

The scale is based on assessments from independent experts who collect data and place the property on the scale according to various factors, such as the design of the building foundation, the ground around it, how thresholds are designed, whether there is a forest close to the property or whether there are basements and, if so, whether they are furnished, and so on.  

“You look at both the building itself and the risk of incidents on-site,” says Peter Lidén, researcher in Indoor Environment and Building Physics at RISE. “Taken together, these data result in a risk rating. In the next step, a private individual can, for example, get recommendations for what can be done to achieve a better rating on the scale, such as altering the surrounding ground levels, or inspecting the seals between different building sections where water can penetrate. Owners of multiple properties can produce documentation for assessing which of their properties they should secure first.” 

Creating incentives – and change 

The idea is that the information will be mandatory for new property development, but it is likely that it will also be requested for existing buildings. However, it is not about condemning vulnerable buildings; the system is a tool to solve problems, help property owners comply with the requirements, and, ultimately, achieve actual change and less damage.  

“Small changes often make a big difference,” says Thidevall. “But if we don’t create opportunities for individual property owners to understand the risks that exist, I don’t think that the measures needed to withstand a downpour or a forest fire will be implemented.”  

The scientific community agrees that the weather will become more extreme in the future, with higher sea levels and torrential rain occurring more frequently. It will cost money to implement measures, but it will also cost a lot if we do nothing.

RISE serves as a meeting place and arena for discussions, projects, and feasibility studies of this nature. 

“You can utilise the extensive expertise within RISE, in this case construction experts and rainfall climatology experts, together with people like me who know the regulations and policy work. Bringing together areas of knowledge, looking at the problem together, and having close dialogue with a wide range of operators provide different perspectives, which produce better solutions.” 

When the YouTube video starts, all you see at first is the man, the hi-vis clothing and the huge drill. Only when looking more closely do you notice the rapids in the background and the fact that the man in the video is in a harness and suspended in front of the rock face 180 metres above the turbulent water. He works with rock face stabilisation, and the video shows him embedding large bolts into the rock face to prevent rockslides. 

“Norway has countless roads and railways running close to mountainsides, and to ensure that they’re not affected by rockslides, we need to stabilise the rock faces,” explains Thomas Clemm, a physiotherapist and head of corporate healthcare at the Norwegian company Mesta AS. 

Vibrations from drills can cause severe neurological damage 

Rock face stabilisation is actually an entire industry employing some 2,000 people in Norway alone. And while efforts to prevent rockslides and thereby protect both lives and infrastructure are important, they present a major problem: the drills used by rock face stabilisation workers vibrate, which can cause severe neurological damage. 

“When I surveyed our employees a few years ago, we found that they had extremely high exposure to vibrations, and that many of them had problems with, for example, fingertip sensitivity,” says Clemm. 

Vibration injuries – such as vascular injuries, numbness or the loss of fine motor skills in the fingers – are often chronic and comprise the most common occupational injury among men in Sweden today. However, when Mesta AS discovered the extent, they decided to try to do something about it. Clemm contacted the researcher Hans Lindell at RISE, who for many years has led projects aimed at reducing vibrations in the work environment in partnerships between RISE and a large number of companies and organisations affected by vibration injuries. The aim is to reduce vibrations in the work environment. 

“I’d met Hans before and knew that not only was he extremely knowledgeable about vibrations, but also had invented a technical solution that could lessen the vibrations. So, I got in touch and asked whether he and RISE would like to work with us,” Clemm explains. 

Developed vibration damping in both drill handles 

The result was the No Bad Vibes project (Ingen dårlige vibber in Norwegian), with Lindell and his colleagues developing vibration damping for both drill handles, which reduced vibrations to one sixth in one handle and to half in the other. 

“Since the level of injury grows quadratically, this means that the risk of injury, compared to before, is now only one thirty-sixth as high for one hand and a quarter for the other,” Lindell explains.  

But that was not enough. The project has also tested modifying the rock drills with ATVA, a technique that Lindell and his colleagues invented. 

“ATVA entails inserting a weight into the machine that is then connected to the machine via a spring. The laws of mechanics cause it to oscillate backwards and forwards, thereby creating an opposing force to the vibrations from the compressed air.” 

Since these forces are of equal size, they cancel each other out, reducing the vibrations by about eighty percent.  

“We’ve tested ATVA on other machines before and always with the same results, namely that we prove that you can greatly reduce both the vibrations and vibration injuries,” says Lindell. 

For Mesta AS, the damping handles mean that fewer employees will suffer vibration injuries, and Clemm now hopes that machine manufacturers will start incorporating ATVA in their products. 

“The technology that Hans Lindell has developed is a major step forward! He’s someone with many ideas who always sees opportunities, and we’re extremely pleased to have been able to work with him.” 

Beneficial even in the mining industry 

Moreover, people working with rock face stabilisation in Norway are not the only ones who would benefit if more manufacturers incorporated this new technology in their machines. 

“Consider the mining industry, and how many people around the world work with hand-held rock drills under poor working conditions. If machine manufacturers were to incorporate this technology as standard in their machines, it would improve the work environments of very many people. The cheese slicer is probably the only tool to have changed less than drills in the past seventy years, so we’re pleased to have finally been able to do something about it,” says Lindell.

Photos: Mesta AS

Rock face stabilisation in practice

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 all boils down to the new requirements for type-approval in compliance with regulation UNECE R155 which came into force in its entirety on 1 July 2024. 

Tomas Bodeklint sees the new regulation as part of a more overarching trend in global efforts to counter cyber threats. In recent years, the EU in particular has begun regulating data protection, AI use, cyber security and more. 

“Previously, responsibility has been left to the manufacturers within the industry to make secure systems. Now, however, it’s considered sufficiently important to ensuring a functioning society to take it to the next level.” 

A good grasp of all cyber security processes 

In concrete terms, a cyber security management system, or CSMS for short, needs to be put in place. As a manufacturer, a CSMS provides you with an overview of all cyber security processes within your company as well as inside the vehicle. 

“From the early design processes to develop a new vehicle and the necessary software, through the entire service life of the vehicle, to its decommissioning or scrapping,” says Bodeklint. 

The regulation also includes requirements for forensic capabilities, a bit like the equivalent to the black boxes found in aircraft. The vehicle’s systems shall be able to detect and log cyber attacks, manage them, timestamp them … and it shall be possible to analyse all of this after the event. 

“It’s a cat-and-mouse game between the people building the systems and the people trying to hack them. And, on occasion, the hackers exhibit exceptional ingenuity. What we often see in major attacks is the use of a back door, gaining access via a software component that a single firm delivers to multiple companies, resulting in very many end users being affected.” 

New cyber threat regulation unknown territory for manufacturers and subcontractors 

Since the regulation is new with relatively broadly formulated requirements, manufacturers and subcontractors are facing quite a bit of unknown territory. The industry is used to setting requirements, but how should you document, say, a subcontractor delivering a technology device based on various software packages from multiple sources? 

Nothing is given. 

Proof, not just a declaration, is needed to meet the requirements. This demands the testing and validation of individual components, systems of components and entire vehicles. 

“All manufacturers are working frantically with this. If you haven’t resolved these matters by then, you won’t be allowed to sell the vehicles.” 

Bodeklint says that the way forward usually involves a standard that has already been developed. As is the case here, too, in the shape of ISO 21434, which aims to protect a vehicle from cyber attacks throughout its service life. One hope is that setting requirements in line with this standard will also meet the requirements of the regulation. 

ISO standard still a learning process 

“It describes in a little more detail what you need to do to get your systems in order. However, some of it is recently developed and doesn’t specify exactly what a vehicle manufacturer needs to test,” says Bodeklint, who has noted that many companies are now engaging certification bodies for pre-certification of compliance with the coming regulation. 

“It’s all a bit of a dress rehearsal, a bit of dry run. Getting all this in place will be a learning process for manufacturers and authorities alike,” he says, comparing the situation to a trial that is yet to determine how convincing the evidence needs to be. 

New cyber security educational programme 

One major issue in the field of cyber security is the general lack of expertise. Here and now, RISE can help out with testing and validation, Bodeklint explains. In the longer term, he is pinning a lot of hope on Cybercampus Sweden, which RISE is involved in starting up together with the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the Swedish Armed Forces. 

“Among other things, they’ll offer a master’s programme with a focus on cyber security to provide more graduate engineers with cutting-edge expertise.” 

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.