Volvo's Electric Roads Concept Points To Battery-Free EV Future 216
Zothecula writes "While quick charging technology installed at strategic points along a planned route might be a good fit for inner city buses, it's not going to be of much use to electric vehicles that stop infrequently. Volvo sees our future long-haul trucks and buses drawing the juice they need from the road itself, making large onboard batteries a thing of the past. 'The two power rails/lines run along the road's entire length. One is a positive pole, and the other is used to return the current. The lines are sectioned so that live current is only delivered to a collector mounted at the rear of, or under, the truck if an appropriate signal is detected. As an additional safety measure, the current flows only when the vehicle is moving at speeds greater than 60 km/h (37 mph). "The vehicle is equipped with a radio emitter, which the road segments can sense," explains Volvo's Per-Martin Johnansson. "If an electric vehicle passes a road segment with a proper encrypted signal, then the road will energize the segments that sense the vehicle.'"
Tire's Flat (Score:5, Funny)
You go change it.
I'm not going to change it, I'll get fried.
We are stopped, no juice.
Yeah, right. Then you change the tire.
No Way!
Re:VOLVO STILL MAKING TIN BUCKET CARS ?? (Score:5, Funny)
So we're talking about Volvo, not Volvo. It's hard to see how AC got confused.
Re:Expensive, ultimately disposable infrastructure (Score:2, Funny)
What they could do is have the trucks drive on the rails so they have to put them in. The upside is that there will be lower rolling resistance so it'll be more efficient anyway.
Ok so let's put metal rails between major cities and use electric vehicles on them.
I think they normally call that a train.