Scania opens SEK975 million proving ground in Södertälje for electrification and safety testing

A purpose-built test facility opens in Södertälje

Scania has inaugurated a new research and development proving ground in Södertälje, Sweden, the location of its headquarters and main R&D site. Scania's announcement, carried by PR Newswire on 19 October 2026, puts the investment at approximately SEK975 million for the 85-hectare facility, which strengthens the TRATON Group's ability to develop, test and validate future transport solutions under controlled and realistic conditions. Automotive World reports the figure as roughly US$103 million, while Sustainable Truck & Van describes the outlay as almost 90 million euros. ¹²⁴⁷

The site adds 13 kilometres of paved roads and 4 kilometres of gravel roads, with 230,000 square metres of paved test surfaces and 54,000 square metres of gravel surfaces. According to Scania's release, it is designed to support testing across electrification, autonomous systems, safety, vehicle dynamics and conventional truck technologies. Rather than a traditional ribbon-cutting, the inauguration saw a range of vehicles driven onto the tracks to demonstrate the breadth of applications the facility is built to support. ²³⁴⁷

Christian Levin, President and CEO of TRATON Group and Scania, said at the opening that the transformation of transport requires continuously strengthening how the company develops and validates new technologies, and that the investment is about building capabilities for the future while ensuring customer solutions meet expectations for safety, quality and performance. Scania CTO Sara Forsberg said new technology only creates value when it performs in the real world, and that the proving ground gives engineers greater scope to test and validate solutions under demanding conditions. ²³⁴⁷

Braking, driver assistance and autonomous testing under one roof

For safety development, the facility includes three irrigated braking tracks with different friction characteristics: asphalt, concrete and basalt tiles. Scania says these allow braking tests with different grip levels on each side of the vehicle, and the basalt section includes a curve for testing braking while cornering. Automotive World notes the facility can also be configured for testing advanced driver assistance systems such as automatic emergency braking, lane support and blind-spot warning. ¹²³⁷

For autonomous transport, engineers can build realistic traffic scenarios and gradually increase their complexity, supporting step-by-step validation of automated driving technologies. Large, purpose-built surfaces enable vehicle-dynamics testing, and Scania states the site allows tests that previously required external test facilities to be carried out in-house, giving the company greater control over scheduling and repeatability. ¹²³⁴

Repeatability, the banked oval and TRATON-wide capability

Scania emphasises test repeatability as a core part of vehicle development. The paving specification was adapted for long service life and the surface evenness needed for comparable results over time, including on the banked curves. With gradients of up to 22 percent, drivers experience the oval as straight, creating what Scania describes as an effectively endless highway for long-duration, repeatable testing. ²³⁷

Niklas Klingenberg, Head of Group R&D at TRATON, said advanced testing and validation capabilities become increasingly necessary as the group develops its next generation of transport solutions, describing the proving ground as an important addition to its R&D landscape. The facility is positioned to serve the wider TRATON Group, not only Scania. ²³⁷

Construction footprint and context

Scania says nature and biodiversity were considered in the site design, and that construction choices including ECO asphalt and HVO100 renewable fuel for transport during the build avoided approximately 30,900 tonnes of CO2e. The company states these figures in its own release; they are manufacturer claims about avoided emissions during construction rather than independent measurements. ²³⁷

The opening sits alongside a broader series of 2026 announcements from Scania reported through its newsroom, including electric truck range and charging developments, a five-star Euro NCAP haulage result for the G-series and R-series in September, and planned electric truck production investment in Angers, France. The proving ground gives the company dedicated infrastructure to develop and validate such technologies before they reach customers. Scania reported delivering 87,600 trucks, 6,500 buses and coaches and 9,200 industrial and marine power systems in 2025, with net sales above SEK198 billion. Scania Australia's commercial vehicle operations are not addressed in these announcements, and no Australian-specific investment or product information appears in them. ⁶⁵²