Wireless electric road charging has long been hailed as a potential holy grail for widespread electric vehicle adoption.
"As a vehicle has a small battery on board, it doesn't really matter whether it charges in this mile or the next mile, but that could mean everything to the utility," said Regan Zane, director of Utah State University’s Center for Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification , where Electreon has been testing its technology. "Having that flexible resource could be a game-changing solution for the utility.
PwC estimates the EV charging market would need to grow five-fold to $40 billion in order to meet the demand that would come with 50% adoption in the US.Dynamic charging technology has already been deployed in nearly half a dozen countries. Sweden has led the way, with public buses and trucks already charging on the go along a short stretch of highway on the island of Gotland. Electreon’s technology has also been deployed in Israel, Germany, and Italy.
"I think having a shared charging platform that can charge any type of vehicle, not just trucks, ... makes the greatest sense for us to meet the electrification demand that will come and that is coming," Tongur said. "That's why we need to start thinking and doing stuff right now." Elon Musk, who hates unions, has to deal with a rare strike at Tesla after his Swedish workers walked out