The technology, very similar to wireless charging devices for smartphones, is being tested on a short stretch of a motorway in the Scandinavian country
Imagine that you are travelling in a latest generation electric car, and that you are “out of fuel” You don’t need a gas station, of course, but a place where you can recharge your batteries. Tutti penseremmo a una sorta di stazione di servizio, ma senza distributori di benzina, solo una lunga serie di colonnine di ricarica. No, the new frontier of recharging does not even include stops.
The project is being tested in Sweden, on the so-called Smart Road Gotland, by the Swedish transport authority, the Trafikverke. A short stretch of 1.6 kilometers, which would allow electric vehicles to fully charge their batteries while on their way. The first step towards the ambitious project planned by the Swedish government, which plans to build two thousand kilometers of motorways equipped with this dynamic charging system, for a total cost of over three billion euros.
For now, the system is being tested along the motorway connecting the city of Visby to the airport on the island of Gotland. The electricity generating lanes will be composed of an integrated system of induction plates, located under the asphalt, created by the Israeli company Electreon Wireless. An essential corollary of this system is the presence of an induction charging system in the vehicles, which allows recharging during transit along the route. For the first tests, some types of buses, heavy-duty trucks and shuttles have been selected, and the plant will be connected to a central and constantly monitored. According to the Swedish transport authority, the system could make a significant contribution to reducing carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. This new wireless charging technology, very similar in principle to that used on some smartphones, will allow you to electrify means of transport economically, without having to carry heavy battery packs and, above all, without having to stop to recharge.