[RahulNagaraj]

Researchers at Cornell University are reported to be developing a new method of charging electric vehicles. According to a media report, the researchers have come up with a wireless charging technology, which will allow owners to charge their electric vehicles while in motion.



The wireless charging infrastructure could be installed on public roads, allowing for EVs to charge on-the-go. The technology can also be used on highways by creating a separate charging lane.

EVs with low charge can enter the lane, charge their batteries and exit when done. The technology will also be able to recognise the vehicle entering the lane and send the bill to its owner.

The technology works by installing special metal plates in the road, which are connected to a powerline and a high-frequency inverter. These plates create an alternating electric field that will either attract or repel a set of similar metal plates fitted on the bottom of an EV.

This new charging infrastructure, if implemented, could potentially offer unlimited range for all kinds of EVs. It will also help EV owners save time by eliminating the need to stop and charge their vehicles, and help in curbing range anxiety. Researchers also predict that given the availability of charging in motion, EVs could also technically come fitted with smaller battery packs, thus reducing their overall weight.

Having said that, the research team at Cornell University mentioned that it would easily take 5 to 10 years for this infrastructure to be put in place. The charging infrastructure will first be introduced in major cities and busy highways in the US, before expanding to other places. This technology could also allow vehicles to get charged while waiting at traffic lights on busy city streets.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BQUIRBMSWA

Link to Team-BHP news

[Akshay6988]

Oh look another fantasy in the world of EVs ! What happens if say an EV with low or high ground clearance comes on these roads how it'll charge if the plates have no contact ?
What happens if some ICE car comes on the road and it's underbody touches these polls ? What happens if a car driver looses control and damages the charging polls / rods thing. While the idea sounds good but it's way far from implementation.
I just love it when people making decisions high up in car companies, authorities think petrolheads want electric cars, screens everywhere, UFO sounds etc.
Whilst what we really want is an E30 M3-like car - three pedals, steering wheel and a screaming engine.

[corvus corax]

What happens if say an EV with low or high ground clearance comes on these roads how it'll charge if the plates have no contact ?
What happens if some ICE car comes on the road and it's underbody touches these polls ? What happens if a car driver looses control and damages the charging polls / rods thing.

I don't think there will be any poles jutting out from the road. It will be like wireless phone charging but done on the road, even while moving.

[gkveda]

On lighter note, Since last 50 years We have been seeing infinite reasons for road digging and reconstructing activities all through 365 days a year. Electricity Board for lying electric cables, water board for hydro pipe repairs, Drainage repairs, Mobile cabling, etc. Essentially, we have never seen good and stable roads in city or highways since 50 years.

Now with this new technology in place, next 50 years will go in digging the current roads again and installing new wireless chargers.

If the work starts in India, We will continue to do off-roading on city roads and snake dance driving on highways (left to right and right to left deviations, every 1 km) through out our life time.

Seriously, this model is not sustainable in my view. Reason being: if the car is traveling at a speed of say xx kmph, the rate of power consumption is say, yy watts per hour. The wireless charging mechanism should be Powerful enough to charge the car at a rate more than yy watts per hour. Else, the net power in the battery will be reducing and become zero after some time.

Wireless charging technology has not been developed as of today to charge at such high rate.

[invincii]

If I'm not wrong, they are using Tesla Coil for wirelessly transmitting power which is seen in the video. This principle works well for short-range transmission and can be successful in future. An optimum speed with proper positioning would be required to improve the efficiency, which could be solved using autonomous driving. This tech paired with renewable energy sounds pretty amazing!

[Kaumad]

Originally Posted by Akshay6988

Oh look another fantasy in the world of EVs ! .....
Whilst what we really want is an E30 M3-like car - three pedals, steering wheel and a screaming engine.

Sorry to burst your bubble Akshay - an E30 M3-like car is not what everyone wants.

And by your logic, everything in the modern world is a fantasy.
30 years ago, a touchscreen phone was a fantasy.
40 years ago, a laptop with TBs of storage space was a fantasy.
50 years ago, robotic surgery using 5G was a fantasy.
Everything is a fantasy till someone decides to do it.

Wireless inductive charging is a very viable model especially for commercial vehicles which follow a predictable route during the day - such as refuse trucks, mail / postal delivery vans etc. This technology has been experimented with, with great benefits. It allows you to have a smaller battery on the vehicle, saving weight. Consequently, this allows for a higher payload, improving productivity and efficiency.

Every technological solution has a use-case. The success of new models lies in identifying the right application.

[Tgo]

This reminds me of a game called Tanaka 3D from back in 1996. The trial version of which was the only computer game I played before Carmageddon came along.

You used to travel in a mag lev pod and the chute you travelled in was equivalent to a road. There were strips in the chute which would boost up your speed... possibly because they sent charge into the pod.

Makes sense now.

But this would have to be very efficient and the distance of the coil/plate getting charge from the coil/plate giving charge has to be maintained at a minimum to be most efficient, with a fast charge capability too.

[sgiitk]

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[TrackDay]

I am pretty optimistic when it comes to technology. There is nothing impossible for man to do if he puts his mind to it. Wireless charging on the go is a great idea and can be perfected over the years. Maybe even various versions of this could come out, for instance charging from overhead instead of from below the vehicle etc. It could also instill lane discipline, since we will be required to follow a line of path to maintain consistency in charging. Overall a good idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qoHCMy-laA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJoQTIvGVEU

[Tucker48]

This project is already underway in Sweden and I guess it's on trial basis but we will get to know about it soon.

https://youtu.be/L2S2qzGkcis

[Shresth_EV]

What is interesting is, that embedding systems into road could work in drier areas but in coastal areas which see lot of rain, even roads in USA do get some level of water logging. Especially Southeastern where cyclones are common.

As to the actual systems appearing — it again relies on the economics of it. Of course installing it won’t be cheap and thus how to recover cost will be a bigger hurdle for companies who try to make a foray into this tech.

Let’s not forget, that wireless chargers, at least the ones referenced to in the video, ie the Qi chargers which we use with phones, are terribly inefficient.

Not only are they largely dependent on orientation and effected by covers, they also produce lot of heat which is where the inefficiency roots from.

Compared to that, developing batteries which accept charge faster (500kW or more) is both, easier on pockets (installing a booth on parking grounds much easier than digging roads) and more energy efficient (less losses)

So while a novel idea no doubt, I fear it will be subject to the dilemma of convenience vs cost — since operating a 90% efficient charging booth is much more desirable than a 30-40% efficient wireless pad.

[warrioraks]

Simple physics - Unlimited range can only be provided if charging is faster than the rate of energy consumption. I doubt this claim will come true in the next 10 years atleast. We all know how fast our phones charge wirelessly as compared to wired chargers.

And who wants unlimited range anyways? Majority of the cars don’t travel more than 2-3 hours per day. It is the charging setup at home and office which is a bigger bottleneck. If we are unable to sort out the plug points at our residences in the next 5 years, forget about electrified roads even being a reality for the next few decades.

[Raghu M]

One more technology that sounds promising but the execution in countries like India is next to impossible. This is just like the numerous medical posts that we read about immediate cure to cancer and other terminal illnesses. The ideas look awesome, they take decades to reach an average world citizen. The thing with EVs is the same. I don't see any great development in the next 10 to 15 years. ICE cars are here to stay, they will rule for at least 25 more years in countries like India. The infrastructure to create, maintain and scale up for EVs is mind bogglingly expensive from the said post.

[RedTerrano]

Interesting idea. Very interesting indeed.
I suppose first place this would be implemented, would be Formula E racing. Close circuit running high performance cars. Perfect test bed.
Once it works, then it can be expected to percolate to common folks. Mind you, by then, it won't be limited to only vehicles but as many appliances and devices as possible.

Exciting times ahead surely.

[binoybnair]

I had an opportunity to visit a facility here in India recently, where work on building a wireless EV charging system was going. Based on the interaction I had with the engineers there, following are some of the points that I believe, will need to be addressed before this becomes a reality:
1. The EV needs to be fitted with additional hardware, exactly as mentioned in the video shared by @TrackDay in his post above. Those components were quite heavy (however, I must admit that I saw only the prototype, weight must not have been an issue at that point).
2. At the time of my interaction, they could only manage a power transfer of a maximum of around 11kW and the losses were quite high. Did not seem like an efficient way of power transfer.
3. Dealing with EMI is a problem. There could be significant issues to the in-vehicle electronics if not addressed properly.