Electric vehicles take a leap: Wireless charging can power cars as they drive

Israeli wireless charging specialist Electreon claims it has driven a Toyota RAV4 for more than 1,900km on electric power, without stopping.

The regular RAV4 plug-in hybrid model has an electric range on a full charge of about 77km, so clearly something interesting is going on here. Electreon, which has already developed wireless charging technology for vehicles that are parked-up, has taken the next logical step and embedded that technology into a continuous road surface.

Now, don’t get too excited – your electric car isn’t going to turn into a life-size Scalextric model just yet. Electreon’s specially-made circular “Wireless Electric Road” test track measured just 200m, but even though only 50m was actually fitted with a wireless charging wire coil, the team managed to cover 1,942km in the RAV4, over the course of 100 hours of non-stop driving.

In fact, the team – consisting of 56 drivers, including an Israeli racing driver – actually covered about one-third more kilometres than they originally expected to. The plan initially called for the RAV4 to cover 1,500km.

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Reuven Rivlin, who is the honorary president of Electreon and a former president of Isreal, said: “The objective of this 100-hour non-stop driving rally was to demonstrate the unlimited technical potential of Wireless Electric Road technology to power EVs to drive indefinitely with a minimal battery. I am delighted to share that Electreon’s technology and the team behind it exceeded expectations. This is yet another clear signal that our Wireless Electric Road technology is ready for large-scale commercial projects globally.”

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The RAV4 uses an 18kWh battery for its electric driving mode, and the Electreon team claims that it never went fully flat, in spite of only 25 per cent of the road surface of the test track working as a charger. Electreon also says that the technology is capable of charging multiple vehicles – be they a large HGV or a small hatchback – at the same time, and it works with all battery chemistries and types.

The benefits are obvious – electric cars would no longer need to stop for charging on longer journeys if they could charge when on the move, and the technology could even, if taken to its fullest potential, eliminate the need for charging at home, which would be of enormous benefit to those living in terraced houses or apartments.

Of course, there are equally enormous barriers in the way. If we’re struggling as much as we are to fund the development of electric car chargers in service stations and car parks, just imagine the expense, chaos and delays that would be caused by digging up roads to install wireless charging loops. Nonetheless, there are further benefits to the tech. If EVs could charge as they drive, then they wouldn’t need large, heavy, wasteful batteries. Not only would this reduce the carbon impact of making the batteries, it would also reduce the need to mine rare metals from the ground, even out the strain on the electricity network at peak times, and create lighter, more efficient cars that would also be safer for vulnerable road-users.

Electreon says that while the claimed world record for the longest non-stop electric drive is a useful bit of publicity for the tech, it’s already working on real-world applications. The first of which will be the installation of wireless charging loops under stretches of road in Detroit. Electreon says that this new tech will play a major part in “solidifying Detroit’s title once again as the Motor City – but for the modern age”.

Electreon is not the only company looking at the possibility of charging your car while it drives. Sweden has been testing the eRoad Arlanda project, which uses 2km of road with the charging system built into it, along public road 893, between the Arlanda Cargo Terminal and the Rosersberg logistics area outside Stockholm. The plan is that electric trucks can use the short stretch of inductive charging to top up their batteries, just a little, as they pass along the way.

“One of the most important issues of our time is the question of how to make fossil-free road transportation a reality. We now have a solution that will make this possible, which is amazing. Sweden is at the cutting edge of this technology, which we now hope to introduce in other areas of the country and the world,” says Hans Säll, chairman of the eRoadArlanda consortium.

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“It is important to break new ground when it comes to climate-smart road transport. That’s why the Swedish Transport Administration supports innovative development projects that contribute to long-term, sustainable solutions,” says Lena Erixon, director general of the Swedish Transport Administration.

How does this all work? Inductive charging works by creating a wireless magnetic field between the electrical cable and the car passing over it, causing current to flow between the two. It’s generally seen as being less efficient (slightly) than a plugged-in cable, but is far more convenient than messing around with plugs and wires (especially on less clement days) and brings with it the potential (with some hefty investment) of turning every road and every parking space into a charging point for electric cars.

Sweden has plans to expand the inductive charging road network, to anything between 5,000km and 20,000km, if the eRoad project is a success, but it’s not the first to show off such plans. Last year, Renault and Qualcomm Technologies showed off a similar prototype system which was able to transmit a 20kW charge to an electric Kangoo van which was driving over the test section of road at 62km/h.

“We are inventors. We are wireless electric vehicle charging. This dynamic charging demonstration is the embodiment of this,” said Steve Pazol, vice-president and general manager of Wireless Charging, Qualcomm Inc. “The combination of a global team of expert engineers and Qualcomm Halo technology, which covers all aspects of these systems, irrespective of the magnetics used, has enabled us to really push the boundaries of the possible and outline our vision for future urban mobility.”