Will we be charging our e-cars while driving soon?

Electric cars are controversial. Often criticized for lack of range, too few charging stations and long charging cycles, in addition to the higher purchase price. Against at least the last two arguments, Israeli company Electreon now seems to have found the solution. Thanks to inductive charging while driving, fear of range and uncomfortable stopping to charge electric cars should soon be a thing of the past.

Electreon’s Electric Road System ERS (English for electric road system) enables contactless and wireless charging of electric cars in motion on the road. It sounds crazy, but the principle is simple and works similar to wireless charging with a smartphone: Energy is transmitted inductively through an electromagnetic field. To do this, copper coils are embedded in the path. Under current, these react with the field of a counter coil installed in the electric vehicle, creating a magnetic field – electric voltage is transmitted without contact. The efficiency of induction charging is up to 92 percent, regardless of climatic influences.

Theoretically, the system enables charging capacities of up to 70 kilowatts (kW). The average charging capacity of today’s AC charging stations is between 22 kW and 50 kW. Charged electricity can then be billed automatically. By installing inductive charging technology in dense sections, the range of electric cars can be increased by about 20 percent. Electreon emphasizes that converting electric cars for inductive charging is okay because the coils are compatible with any electric car.

New test section in Bavaria

Induction technology itself is nothing new. It heats our food on the induction cooker and wirelessly powers smartphones or tablets. There are also induction parking spaces for charging electric vehicles. For example, a bus operated by German company Energie Baden-Württemberg AG charges its battery on coils embedded in the ground when it stops at bus stops.

The new one, however, charges while driving, and Electreon has already successfully tested this. In Tel Aviv, Israel, electric city buses have been charging in an inductive test section since 2017. The inductive charging system was also successfully tested on a highway in Italy in collaboration with the Stellantis automobile company and a converted Fiat 500e. Even trucks can be charged using this technology, for example on a road section on the Swedish island of Gotland.

A one kilometer long test track will now be built in Germany as well. The project is run by the Friedrich-Alexander University (Fau) in Erlangen-Nuremberg in collaboration with Via Imc Autobahn GmbH, Electreon, Risomat and the Technical University of Nuremberg. Costing about eight million francs, the test track will be put into service for public transport in 2025.

Technology is still expensive

But Induction technology for charging While driving is currently still expensive. Construction methods are so sophisticated that up to one kilometer of asphalt can be coiled per day – but at a high price of almost 1,000 francs per metre. However, these costs need to be reduced soon, thanks to unified manufacturing standards. « First prototypes induction hobs “It was also exorbitantly expensive,” says Nejila Parspour, 59, head of the Institute for Electrical Power Conversion at the University of Stuttgart.

According to the tests and researches, active magnetic fields do not have any negative effects on people or animals in the immediate vicinity. In any case, the magnetic field is only activated if there is a vehicle and the corresponding countercoil on it. Thanks to induction charging, more compact, lighter and cheaper batteries can be used in electric cars in the future. And in turn, they consume less electricity, are more economical on the road and are climate-friendly.

Source: Blick