The share of electric vehicles in the overall automotive market share is increasing year by year – from 4% 2020 to 14% last year. Among holdouts, a lack of charging infrastructure appears to be one of the most common reasons why consumers don’t switch from gasoline cars to electric vehicles.
But now, electric road projects are popping up around the world as a potential solution to supplement electrostatic charging, allowing EV drivers to wirelessly charge their cars while driving.
“This is actually a way to charge any shape vehicle, meaning it can be a bus, van, coach or truck, and it can be charged while the vehicle is moving or stationary,” said Stefan Tongur Electreon Vice President The head of U.S. business development told CNBC.
Israel-based Electreon is a wireless electric vehicle charging provider that operates a number of pilot projects and case studies in countries such as Sweden, Norway and Italy. A Swedish project to connect the airport to the town of Visby cost approximately $10.5 million, almost entirely funded by the Swedish Transport Administration.
Electreon is also involved in the nation’s first electric road project in Detroit, which is expected to be built next year.
“We’re really trying to find different use cases that exist in this pilot program,” Michele Mueller, senior program manager for connected and autonomous vehicles at the Michigan Department of Transportation, told CNBC. “There are use cases for freight, transportation, But there are also use cases for passenger vehicles.”
Electric roads will prove most useful for public transit and fleet vehicles, as they often travel on the same repetitive routes. For example, wireless charging roads at bus stops can provide buses with enough power to last them all day.
“We don’t think the roads are 100% electrified, but we do think the technology is feasible … economically, but also important in rural areas where there may not be a lot of charging stations or there are so-called charging deserts, ” said Nadia Gkritza, a professor of civil and biological engineering at Purdue University.
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