As the drive to encourage electric-vehicle ownership gathers momentum, so does the desire to install automated recharging systems such as devices built into roads that top up batteries as the EVs drive over them.
Dynamic inductive charging technology has been tested in a range of scenarios globally. One system now is operating on a live transport route, on roads in two towns in South Korea.
High installation costs coupled with the relatively slow uptake of EVs are the main factors hindering wider installation of this technology, despite proof of its practicality and functionality.
But industry experts believe technological development in the field is so fast-moving that in-motion charging will be commonplace within the next five to 10 years.
Indeed, California-based Lucid Motors recently unveiled its luxury-level Air EV, fitted with inductive charging that enables battery range of up to 400 miles (240 km). Another California firm, Faraday Future, has launched the FF91, an electric SUV with a 378-mile (609-miles) range that is compatible with wireless charging stations.
Burak Ozpineci, group leader of the power-electronics and electric-machinery group of the National Transportation Research Center at the U.S. government’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is confident in the future of wireless charging. “In a few years, drivers of traditional (gasoline powered) cars will be viewed by society in the same way as smokers,” he says.
Utility companies will drive wireless charging, says Mashrur Chowdhury, a professor of transportation at the International Center for Automotive Research at Clemson University in. “It will all depend on how many electric vehicles we see. If we see gas prices going up and governments interested in investing more in alternative energy, (then) that will motivate the deployment” of wireless charging.
“Within five years I think we will see it in place in many areas,” he says. “When people see these roads in cities it will prompt more people to buy electric cars. It’s a 2-way street.”
Batteries will need to be cheaper and more effective to achieve this. Batteries, which currently account for up to 50% of the price of an EV, have proved cost-prohibitive for many drivers wishing to switch from traditional vehicles. Most existing EV batteries provide limited driving distance between charges and are a major source of the weight auto engineers are trying to reduce.
The electromagnetic technology involved in dynamic inductive charging is the same principle as the Qi wireless charging system that powers a smartphone. This could remove storage requirements for the battery, reducing both its weight and cost.
South Korea switched on its first wireless road in 2013 for its online electric vehicle (OLEV) bus service and has been expanding its coverage ever since.
Read more of the original article at Wards Auto.
