Some very creative thinking from the Wall Street Journal.
An excerpt.
“Imagine driving an electric vehicle on a highway that recharges your battery as you travel.
“Stefan Tongur has been hoping to make this futuristic tech a reality since 2010, when he was working on his doctorate at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. In 2019, he joined Electreon, an Israeli startup that aims to bring this technology to roadways around the world. Later that year, the company began construction of its first pilot project on public roads, in Gotland, Sweden.
“Since then, Electreon has expanded its projects to several cities around the world, including its first in the U.S.—a pilot on public streets at the Michigan Central Station tech hub in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. The initial phase was completed in November and included a quarter of a mile of roadway set up to wirelessly charge an electric bus retrofitted to work with the system. Tongur says it will stretch for a full mile when the project is completed.
“Charging rates can vary depending on several factors, including the size of the battery and how many receivers the vehicle has, Tongur says. For an EV with just one receiver, he says Electreon’s wireless charging is comparable to what are known as level 2 plug-in chargers. They can charge a battery to 80% from empty in four to 10 hours. A larger vehicle with more receivers could have rates similar to level 3 fast chargers that can fill a battery to 80% in 15 minutes to an hour.
“There’s a lot of road to cover to get from pilot projects to widespread wireless charging on streets and highways—and having electric vehicles with the technology to use it. In a conversation during the Journal’s Future of Everything podcast, Tongur, Electreon’s vice president of U.S. business development, discussed how wirelessly charging electric vehicles works and how it could change the way we drive.
“What got you to Electreon and trying to figure out how to wirelessly charge cars?
“There are a lot of companies in Sweden—Scania, Volvo and others—trying to figure out how do we electrify trucks. Because loading them with a bunch of big batteries could be challenging in terms of cargo. So the idea emerged: Why don’t we charge these vehicles while they drive? Then you can have a smaller battery.
“It’s not just about the technology. It’s about, how does the technology shift impact business models? Because essentially it challenges the dominant business model of internal-combustion engines and how we fuel our cars, if we bring the fueling to the road.
“How does Electreon’s charging system actually work?
“In essence, you have two coils, similar to other inductive charging. You put the coil underneath the road surface, connected to what we call a “cabinet” with a grid connection and the cloud. Under your vehicle, you have a secondary coil. The infrastructure would detect you, and you will get a charge wirelessly. That could happen while you’re standing still on that coil, or it could happen while you drive, coil by coil.”
Roads That Charge While You Drive: Can This Fuel a Future for EVs? – WSJ
Parkway Blog 