More electric road projects are taking shape in efforts to help meet electric-vehicle charging needs, CNBC reported.
The infrastructure can actually provide vehicle charging while the car is still moving.
They started appearing in Asia nearly a decade ago with a commercial bus line in South Korea. Meanwhile, Sweden is planning an electric-road system. And a one-mile section of road in Detroit is being constructed, the Michigan transportation department said.
The roads employ overhead or underground power lines that use rails or leverage coils in the roadway.
Israel-based Electreon, the company awarded the work on the Detroit project, told CNBC that such infrastructure can charge a vehicle that’s either in motion or parked.
The report quoted a Purdue University engineering professor as saying such projects could be concentrated in rural areas without much traditional charging infrastructure in the form of isolated stations. It said throughfares used by public transportation systems would also particularly benefit.
Spotty charging infrastructure is consistently cited as a top reason many consumers still hesitate to switch from gas-powered models to EVs.
