Electric roads that charge vehicles

Electroad paving the way towards a greener future.

Israeli startup Electroad has designed technology that retrofits existing roads with buried coils to inductively charge electric vehicles. The team has already performed successful tests of the technology, and will be demoing the electric roads on a larger scale with a public bus route in Tel Aviv.

The following video take a retrospective look on how this technology could impact the world we live in today. Set in the year 2030, it highlights the problems we face today and the solutions the Electroad system could offer.

With the company’s core  goal being to reduce global emissions, Electroad promises a more cost-effective, efficient, and cleaner way to travel. The startup uses technology that relies on electromagnetic induction to power electric cars with renewable energy while driving via an embedded rubber and copper ”strip” in the existing road.

The nature of the product, and it’s flexibility allow for the installation process to be a relatively quick process, retrofitting one kilometre of road in about half a day. One vehicle scrapes out a shallow trench while the second following vehicle lays the charging strip and back-fills the trench with asphalt.

From here the connection via smart inverters positioned along side the road at various intervals, allow for smart, real-time connection to the grid on demand.

There is a coil unit attached beneath the electric vehicle which receives the power from the strip, transferred over a 24-cm air gap. This may bring up concerns over radiation and passenger safety. To combat this the driver and passengers are locally shielded as a construction element of the vehicle and the road only emits energy on-demand, minimising any potential ambient radiation to pedestrians.

Electroad considers itself the most cost effective solution for public transport into the not too distant future.

They can boast:

• Zero Emissions – No need for a battery. No need for charging spots
• Reduced Cost of Operation – Minimum energy needed due to minimum bus weight. Infrastructure: minimum cost and easy to implement
• High Efficiency – State-of-the-art Wireless Power Transfer system with more than 88% efficiency
• Energy Sharing – Energy sharing between vehicles within the grid

Electroad plans to initially focus on public transportation first before opening the platform up to private transit for electric vehicles. The startup successfully tested their technology with an electric bus five months ago in Tel Aviv and opened 20 meters of retrofitted electric road outside their lab. Soon the company will test out the technology on a public electric bus with a set route in Tel Aviv. Since the bus will drive on electric roads, it won’t need to be recharged though it will have a small battery to allow the bus to drive up to five kilometres without an electric current.

Electroad’s CEO Oren Ezer said

“We remove the energy source. The electricity will come from renewable energy transferred to the road. This is a really sustainable solution. A battery for an electric bus can cost $300,000 and weigh as much as 5 tons. If you remove the battery then the bus is much lighter and requires less energy. This technology is cost saving. If you compare it to diesel busses, it’s half the price. If you just start with public transportation it will save money and then you can open it up to taxis and trams. Payback is very fast.”

The company plans to test the technology on a real live bus route in Tel Aviv as early as next year. Can’t wait to see more of this technology which support so many of the other innovative technologies around the future of transport.

Read more on this great innovation for the future of sustainable electric transportation here > www.electroad.me

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