Michigan Announces America's First Public In-Road Charging Test for Electric Vehicles

The governor of Michigan has announced America's first "public wireless in-road charging system," which would allow electric vehicles (EV) to charge - both while in motion and when stationary. The GreenBiz site takes a look at this "inductive vehicle charging pilot program."There's perhaps no place more fitting for this pilot than Detroit. The city that led the nation's first wave of automobile technology is helping lead its second, as the Michigan Department of Transportation has awarded a $1.9 million contract to Electreon to install one mile of in-road EV charging in Motor City. "Wireless is the future for this technology," said Stefan Tongur, vice president of business development for Electreon in the U.S. The wireless charging company is already building out the tech across Europe, where it has pilots in Germany, Italy and Sweden. The Michigan project is expected to be operational in 2023. "We've always, for the past century, stopped to fuel the car, and we're thinking the same with EVs," Tongur said. But that creates many challenges when it comes to large-scale batteries and fleets especially, Tongur noted... So Electreon and others envision a network of strategic corridors with wireless, in-road charging that could gradually power vehicles along a route, rather than all at once at the destination. Fleet operators could either pay a subscription to use the chargers or integrate the costs into highway tolling, depending on the situation, Tongur said. He described Electreon's business model as "charging as a service." Alex Gruzen, CEO of wireless charging company WiTricity, tells the site this technology ultimately could accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles. "The company's own research indicates that wireless charging can increase a consumer's intent to purchase an EV by 68%, according to Gruzen, which could help move EVs beyond the early adopter stage." Or, as Gruzen puts it, "What we want to do is show that the EV ownership experience can be better than any experience you've ever had with a car before." Thanks to Slashdot reader doyouwantahotpocket for submitting the story.

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