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Transportation United States Wireless Networking

Michigan Installs First Wireless EV Charging Road In US (electrek.co) 97

The first wireless charging public roadway in the United States has been installed in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood. Electrek reports: Wireless charging provider Electreon provided inductive-charging copper coils that were installed below the road's surface. The coils will charge EVs equipped with Electreon receivers as they drive over the road. The road's charging segments transfer electricity wirelessly through a magnetic field, which is then transferred as energy to the vehicle's battery, charging it. Detroit's wireless charging roadway is a pilot that will test and aim to perfect the wireless charging technology in a real-world environment. Researchers are using a Ford E-Transit equipped with an Electreon receiver.

The plan is to open it up to the public in the next few years. MDOT and Electreon have entered a five-year commitment to develop and pilot the electric road system on Michigan roads. The pilot is on a quarter-mile stretch on 14th Street between Marantette and Dalzelle Streets in Detroit's historic Corktown. It runs alongside the Newlab at Michigan Central Building, home to more than 60 tech and mobility startups, where the wireless charging tech will be further tested and developed beginning in early 2024. In 2024, MDOT will begin seeking bids to rebuild part of Michigan Avenue (US-12) and will install additional inductive charging.

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Michigan Installs First Wireless EV Charging Road In US

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  • Because it's in Michigan, get it? : D

  • by jenningsthecat ( 1525947 ) on Friday December 01, 2023 @07:11PM (#64047865)

    Magnetic field strength falls off as the CUBE of distance. That's what helps Near Field Communications devices to be (relatively) secure. But it hurts transmission of energy - I'd be interested to know just how much power that's put into the coils in the road doesn't make it to the batteries / motor in the vehicle.

    • by pixelpusher220 ( 529617 ) on Friday December 01, 2023 @07:17PM (#64047881)
      in theory, if you're entire energy supply is fuel free, i.e. solar, wind etc, then you can absorb significant losses by just building more capacity. In theory.

      The good news is this won't suck up tons of energy. Because Michigan has a 'road building season' for a reason. Roads in freeze/thaw/heavy salt environments don't last long. Potholed, ripped up roads that to repair now also need rewiring? It's a ridiculous idea fueled by sunny SoCal demos.

      Building infrastructure in a rapidly degrading environment just means you have to rebuild frequently. Which is a terrible way to do infrastructure.
      • lolz, more capacity when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine?

        Storage is a more important problem to solve before this pie-in-the-sky hairbrained nonsense.

        • Storage, long extension cords, space based microwave beam down, name your crazy plan for power shifting. Entirely not the point.

          If you're not paying for the fuel...infrastructure is a basic one time expense, you build more capacity 'once' and use it for years. You can absorb massive efficiency losses on conversion because it's not reflected in our output. 8000:1 ratio of solar in a year to all human power usage in a year is a hell of a lot of inefficiency before we even notice.

          However the point is
          • by quetwo ( 1203948 ) on Friday December 01, 2023 @09:39PM (#64048095) Homepage

            It sounds like you are painting a picture where roads in Michigan last one season or something.

            Roads that don't get much heavy truck traffic regularly last 30 years before having to be redone, and roads that have heavy truck traffic last 20. Residential roads typically don't get redone for 40-50. That is plenty of usable time for a demonstration system and even a good amount of time before electronics fail.

            Highways are being redone every 20 years because they allow super heavy traffic constantly. Michigan also has lower standards for concrete in highways (and up to recently they rarely check on what contractors were putting in, and the substandard stuff was falling apart in 5-8 years).

            • So no potholes for 20 years? That's amazing. Roads, freeze/thaw and salt make for very frequent repairs being necessary. You don't put fragile expensive infrastructure into that.
              • The poster who said roads last 30 years so putting stuff in it wasn't a problem?

                That pothole you filled had a wire in it that no longer works. That's the problem. Roads do need to get repaired frequently. Currently the fix is literally just stuff in some asphalt (repeatedly most times) till spring/summer. Now, with an 'electric' road, you need to do far more intensive repairs to keep the system functioning.

                That's the problem with putting infrastructure in a degrading environment like an road und
          • by lsllll ( 830002 )

            infrastructure is a basic one time expense, you build more capacity 'once' and use it for years.

            Amortize much? It's not a "one time expense" if it's good "for years".

            • I'm only claiming that a renewable/solar/wind project has no FUEL costs. A comparable coal/gas plant will have both the infrastructure AND fuel costs.
      • in theory, if you're entire energy supply is fuel free, i.e. solar, wind etc, then you can absorb significant losses by just building more capacity. In theory.

        And in practice we can consider such waste once our energy is 100% decarbonised.

      • by kenh ( 9056 )

        in theory, if you're entire energy supply is fuel free, i.e. solar, wind etc, then you can absorb significant losses by just building more capacity. In theory.

        In theory, yes, but in practice, no.

        I've never seen free solar, wind, hydro, or thermal generation plants.

        Let's imagine it has 50% efficiency, that means we'd have to over-build the power generating facility by 100% - that literally doubles the cost of the electricity that actually makes it into the EV battery.

        • by pixelpusher220 ( 529617 ) on Saturday December 02, 2023 @12:51AM (#64048379)

          I've never seen free solar, wind, hydro, or thermal generation plants.

          So every solar plant you've seen...pays for it's sunlight? You *Pay* for the wind to blow? Rivers to flow?

          All systems have some cost obviously. Renewables do NOT have on going fuel input costs. Is that so hard to understand?

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        I had a look at their website and it seems that they put their coils under the asphalt layer, so it is possible to resurface the road without disturbing them. As such they should be more permanent than the road surface.

        That said, it remains to be seen how durable they are.

        As for efficiency, there have been wireless EV chargers in use in Europe, for taxis waiting for fares. Efficiency is surprisingly good, in excess of 85%, which isn't that far off wired when you factor in losses in the wiring. Apparently th

        • Found this which claims 97% at six inches which is just crazy linky [elektormagazine.com]

          Probably need a foot before it's really viable, but that's still a very impressive achievement.
    • I'd be interested to know just how much power that's put into the coils in the road doesn't make it to the batteries / motor in the vehicle.

      Well, a 1/4 mile stretch, 30mph, so 30 second charge time at the shown rate of 16kW should charge my EV by 0.2% of capacity so there isn’t much waste because there isn’t any charging happening. They would be better off putting them in parking spaces so at least the charge time would be longer. But the reality is charging roadways won’t make financial sense, both for the cost of installation, maintenance, additional touchy gear under the vehicle, on and on including the waste in transmis

      • Based on that analysis, a 100% charge would take 125 miles. The implication is that this could actually be a good technology for freeways and Interstate's. These are the roads where greatest range is needed, where fencing and limited access keep pedestrians and other equipment off the roadway, and where the roads are built to be more durable. For city street driving though, your concerns make a good point, perhaps not much value or profit electrifying them. It also makes me wonder, if the 1/4 mile test

        • by kenh ( 9056 )

          I propose this real-world test:

          Build a 100 mile charge road.

          Run a fully-charged EV over the 100 mile charge road.

          Measure the charge in the EV after driving 100 miles.

          Repeat the last two steps at faster, slower speeds and take the same measurement.

          I'd be impressed if the EV can end up at the end of the 100 mile run at 100% charge, but I seriously doubt that would happen for any typical highway speed.

      • by jcochran ( 309950 ) on Friday December 01, 2023 @10:55PM (#64048179)

        Let's see now. Looking up tesla, they get about 4.5 miles per kilowatt hour. So 30 seconds @16 kw provides enough power to go 0.6 miles. And since that's over a distance of 0.25 miles, it sounds like a win to me. Let's increase the speed to 60 mph. That still means that the energy gained over that quarter mile is enough to travel 0.3 miles, so that's pretty much break even. Put that system on the Interstate and if it has the capability of supplying 16 kW continuously to each vehicle running on it and range becomes a non-issue.

        • by lsllll ( 830002 )
          Thanks for the numbers. I get it that this is experimental and it'll get better over time. Even if it improves by 300%, that's still not enough. The energy and money would be better off putting into better batteries.
        • Let's see now. Looking up tesla, they get about 4.5 miles per kilowatt hour. So 30 seconds @16 kw provides enough power to go 0.6 miles. And since that's over a distance of 0.25 miles, it sounds like a win to me. Let's increase the speed to 60 mph. That still means that the energy gained over that quarter mile is enough to travel 0.3 miles, so that's pretty much break even. Put that system on the Interstate and if it has the capability of supplying 16 kW continuously to each vehicle running on it and range becomes a non-issue.

          Except you ignore costs. Yes, let’s take the efficiently gains of EV and roll them back to fossil fuel vehicles through poor coupling of high energy systems. People complain the grid can’t be expanded for EV because it’s too expensive and yet this is at a cost three to five orders of magnitude higher in supplying power. Where is the need for such a system? battery costs have gone done 90% in the last 15 years with all EV being sold easily able to handle even brutal commutes, this syst

          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            There are some very specific use cases, like taxi ranks, where this can work. For the most part though, I think commercial vehicles will settle on just charging the normal way with a cable. Battery swaps might also be used for some users like haulage. Nio already has that working for cars, and it takes 6 minutes at a fully automated swap station.

      • That's enough to deice the roads for that section a little bit. It might end up being the only decent stretch of road in the state in the winter. And with frequent maintenance and tech upgrades it will also be under constant summer construction, making it a prime example of Michigan highways.

        • You do realize that pumping waste heat into the roads is not only incredibly expensive, but also is bad for the environment due to energy production costs right? I live in Minnesota and we have been getting by without the need to waste taxpayer money on pork.
    • It's absolutely scam rubbish that they got government funding for I guess? Yes there will be tons of wasted electricity. But, "wireless is cool, right"? LOL.

    • It's been a while since I studied electromagnetics, but there should be some drag from the moving induction coil, similar to magnetic braking when you short the windings in a permanent magnet motor. This doesn't seem like a terribly efficient charging scheme.
  • I can't wait to see Dave (and likely Thunderfoot) make fun of yet another attempt at this nonsense in the US!

  • Probably not awesome for health, Pulsating magnetic fields won't ionize but they sure will modify your own electric field. What a fucking stupid idea.
  • of electric to power vehicles en masse. I'm not sure how this became such a beautiffic panacea. Could it be the proclivity of the human to coalesce around a singular good vs. a singular evil? Are we really a binary species at heart - in our DNA? Surely we can by now encompass a gradient of solutions into our problem-solving consciousness, and not devolve into a dichotomy of carbon bad, electric miraculous?
  • Quarter mile? Gonna have to drive over it a whole lot to charge the car?

  • I assume that the vehicle has to be moving over the road in order for an alternating current to be induced in the vehicle's on-board pick-up coil. Otherwise, the road will be just like another static magnetic field. Which raises a more interesting question for me -- will my compass still work when driving over or in the vicinity of this road? Hmmm, me thinks not.
    • I assume that the vehicle has to be moving over the road in order for an alternating current to be induced in the vehicle's on-board pick-up coil. Otherwise, the road will be just like another static magnetic field. Which raises a more interesting question for me -- will my compass still work when driving over or in the vicinity of this road? Hmmm, me thinks not.

      If you are in motion then your GPS receiver will be able to tell your direction of travel. That is potentially more accurate than a compass.

      I remember as a kid watching some movie on TV where one character told another how to tell directions with a clock and watching the sun/shadows. I remembered that because I found the idea fascinating, and used that knowledge on occasion to navigate over unfamiliar territory. This was an important skill to have in at least one point in the movie since the two protagon

  • At least they aren't trying to make this about solar power in or above the roads. We don't need solar freakin' roadways.

    If you have such "range anxiety" from driving a BEV that you need to charge up while driving then that is a sign that BEVs aren't for you, possibly aren't for anyone. I like the idea of a BEV and I know people that are quite pleased with theirs. What they don't do is beg for a means to recharge while driving, or demand outlets to charge while parked outside where they work or shop. Wha

    • Battery prices for EV have dropped 90% in the last 15 years while volumetric energy and power density has risen substantially. Range anxiety is barely a thing anymore, it’s are there chargers available and do they work at full capacity. It’s going to be at most another 15 years and battery costs and technology will be to the point gas and diesel vehicles won’t be cost competitive at all.
      • Range anxiety is barely a thing anymore

        Then why is anyone thinking it necessary to put wireless charging in roads?

        Itâ(TM)s going to be at most another 15 years and battery costs and technology will be to the point gas and diesel vehicles wonâ(TM)t be cost competitive at all.

        Hardly. I expect basic supply/demand market forces to keep ICEVs, BEVs, and PHEVs at near parity for TCO for a long time. Individual buyers might rarely consider TCO in their buying decisions but businesses that operate large fleets of vehicles will be buying enough to keep pricing competitive. It's these large purchases that will drive prices more than individuals looking for some conspicuous consumption. Businesses will look at

        • Range anxiety is barely a thing anymore

          Then why is anyone thinking it necessary to put wireless charging in roads?

          Because the world is full of scams that prey on fear and ignorance. Where money exists, like funds for public roadways, there will always be thieves.

          Hardly. I expect basic supply/demand market forces to keep ICEVs, BEVs, and PHEVs at near parity for TCO for a long time.

          It’s fuel prices that are driving them to be uncompetitive, plus auto manufacturing is extremely lean already while economies of scale haven’t even kicked in for EVs. Plus maintenance costs which won’t improve because it’s mature technology. when battery prices drop another 50-90% and the energy/power density climbs even more its g

          • Itâ(TM)s fuel prices that are driving them to be uncompetitive, plus auto manufacturing is extremely lean already while economies of scale havenâ(TM)t even kicked in for EVs. Plus maintenance costs which wonâ(TM)t improve because itâ(TM)s mature technology. when battery prices drop another 50-90% and the energy/power density climbs even more its going to be unaffordable to pay 5-10x the cost per mile when the vehicles have the same sticker price, right now I pay one third the cost per mile for my ev compared to a similar ICE vehicle on a fuel mileage basis.

            Why would you assume the same sticker price? I recall someone pointing out the following...

            Because the world is full of scams that prey on fear and ignorance. Where money exists, like funds for public roadways, there will always be thieves.

            The prices on BEVs will rise if fuel prices rise. This is because demand for BEVs will rise. This is basic supply vs. demand stuff. The people involved don't have to be thieves looking to scam people with fear and ignorance but that will play into things, it can be a basic TCO calculation that anyone can do with all kinds of freely available information on what things cost now and how people are bidding on future

      • by lsllll ( 830002 )

        Range anxiety is barely a thing anymore

        I give you the guy who had a 5-digit UID [slashdot.org] who was afraid to travel a 160 mile roundtrip because he had an EV. Anecdotal? Sure. Common? You bet.

        • There is no cure for irrationality when we can’t shut down propaganda sites like Fox News pushing lies. That user has a budget EV bought in 2016 among the cheapest and lowest range on the market with the small battery and it cannot fast charge. Battery prices have lowered dramatically and the same leaf now has literally double the range for the same adjusted cost and can easily make the trip on the larger battery. Give it another seven years and battery costs will likely have more than halved yet a
    • It's almost like politicians should talk to real engineers and physicists instead of marketers from scam companies.

  • by ukoda ( 537183 )
    Wow 400m! How much did it cost? Not stated because I bet it was a small fortune.

    WTF spend a fortune on charging roads when most cars spend most of their time parked? I'm a big fan of BEVs and vocally pan hydrogen proponents because the their numbers don't stack up, but crazy ideas like this are just a whole new level of crazy.

    The closest real use case is overhead lines for trains. That is expensive too but, pays for itself over a reasonable time frame. Powered roads would never pay for themselves
    • Pilot tests are always expensive.

      • by ukoda ( 537183 )
        Well, sure, but there is no scale at which this could be cost effective. Take the cost for this 400m section and be generous, divide it by 10 for a volume solution. I bet you the figure is very big. The lack a figure anywhere in the article is telling. As they say, if you have to ask the price you probably can't afford it.

        How about this one https://www.theguardian.com/en... [theguardian.com]. Much simpler just tracks in the road instead if copper loops. It is €1m per km, at scale.

        There is about 64,285,009 km
        • First, we don't know yet whether a factor of 10 in cost savings can be achieved by building this technology at scale. It could be less, or it could be more. Somebody might figure out that these things can be 3-D printed at 99% less cost, who knows!

          It will surely never be cost-effective to build this technology into rural dirt roads. But there are certain kinds of locations where it might make sense. As your article points out, the cost for that project is "50 times lower" than an urban train line.

    • A better use of money is investing in street side charging for people who can't charge at home.

      People that can't charge at home should have a PHEV or ICEV than a BEV.

      I recall in some comments on similar Slashdot discussion advocating for e-bikes as a solution for those that don't have a garage or such to charge at home. The idea was that an e-bike is small and light enough to be taken inside an apartment or whatever to recharge. I can imagine that working for some, but that's hardly a solution for everyone that can't charge a car at home. I could see people keeping an e-bike around as a back-up an

      • by ukoda ( 537183 )
        Well we agree on something. I see mandates as redundant. People will chose BEVs over ICEVs once there is BEVs that meets their needs, so we should not need mandates to do something that simple market economics will take care of. It is good to see some of the new BEVs targeting wider market segments atlast.

        Subsidies were are good idea to get the ball rolling, pity they didn't apply when I brought my car. I think we have reached a point where they can now be reduced and phased out over the coming year.
      • I wonder if it would ever be practical (and cheap) to have numerous removable batteries that can be brought inside for charging.

        Using current numbers, a Model 3 is about 1000 lbs. If that was 10 removable batteries, each 100 lbs, and you did light commuting (33 miles), that comes close to allowing you to bring in one battery pack each night for charging.

        100 lbs is too much, and batteries are not designed to be removed. But those facts aren't necessarily permanent.

        • I wonder if it would ever be practical (and cheap) to have numerous removable batteries that can be brought inside for charging.

          I've seen this done for electric scooters.

          Using current numbers, a Model 3 is about 1000 lbs. If that was 10 removable batteries, each 100 lbs, and you did light commuting (33 miles), that comes close to allowing you to bring in one battery pack each night for charging.

          100 lbs is too much, and batteries are not designed to be removed. But those facts aren't necessarily permanent.

          100 pounds is a bit much. While growing up on the family farm we'd have animal feed, seed corn, and various other items come in 50 pound blocks or bags. That is about the limit that someone could carry with regularity. I recall from somewhere that there's OSHA rules, or something, that anything over 70 pounds is considered a two person lift. A quick look at some of the scooter batteries and they appear to be something like 20 to 30 pounds, so something light eno

  • From the AIP, December 1, 2373.
    A century ago, there was concern that people living under electrical transmission lines had a greater risk of brain cancer. Now, with much of the population driving over transmission lines, the rise in ass cancer has brought scrutiny to current road technologies. The companies making these transmission systems have dismissed such concerns suppositorily.

  • Who pays for this? Is there any thought given to figuring out how to bill the car owner for the electricity consumed?

    How efficient is this? Any inductive pickup in the car is at least, say, 10 inches away from the road surface. How much energy will really be transferred?

    Who pays for maintenance? Just like the stupid solar roadway ideas, this is far more expensive to maintain and restore after inevitable road construction than simple concrete or macadam roadways.

    This is a stupid idea all around.
  • We'll see if it survives the winter, let alone copper looters.

  • by crow ( 16139 )

    This would be much more useful for charging in urban on-street parking situations than for charging while driving. This is not likely to provide much more power than is used to drive on the road in question, but charging for people who park on the street is a real problem in some areas. It's a much easier proposition to sell an EV to someone who can charge it at home every night.

  • by denbesten ( 63853 ) on Saturday December 02, 2023 @12:09AM (#64048299)

    Charging through overhead wires seems much more efficient, has higher charging rates, is substantially cheaper.to install, and much easier to fix.

    This can be done at-rest: SAE J1305 [wikipedia.org]
    Or, since the early 1900's, while in motion: Trollybus [wikipedia.org]

    • "much easier to fix"

      Except failures are going to be less localized with OLE. An individual driver's poorly maintained pantograph is going to pull down a mile of cable at a time, which also creates a live electrical hazard for everyone.

  • Aren't battery swapping machines/technology like 1,000x more beneficial than this? I don't understand...

    • Battery swap is an interesting idea but I think there's been enough progress in high-speed charging that we can consign it to the dustbin, outside of some niche applications. The biggest problem is that it forces you to design all of your vehicles in a way that allows the same type of battery to be swapped in and out easily. That limits both your design choices for batteries, which are evolving quickly, and how you attach them to the vehicle, which could significantly impact the overall cost and performanc
  • A couple of things bug me about wireless charging roads:

    First, we're basically talking about an air-core transformer with the primary winding just below the road surface and the secondary winding mounted to the bottom of the EV. This seems like a very low efficiency energy transfer. So a lot of the power put into the road is just going to be radiated off as heat. Could be a benefit in clearing snow in a Michigan winter, I guess, but expensive overall. And the energy consumption on a road with significan

  • is a hefty price tag, about $5 million more per lane per mile than a typical urban road. My guess is a large part of that is just copper wire cost for the ~200 coils per mile so there isn't some process that will scale and bring the cost down.

    Can this become real, or is it a long slow pump and dump?
  • Put this into the right in-town streets, and it could be a rebirth to Friday or Saturday night "cruising," except with EVs instead of hot rods.
  • There are plans for an additional road within five years which will dispense healthcare to drivers and passengers as they traverse the road.

  • Imagine putting them at stop signs and turn them on during yellow and red lights.. people might actually come to a complete stop or even wait to turn left instead of pulling into the intersection a second before it turns red.

  • Isn't there already a question of limited copper supply? Seems like larger scale implementations of this would deplete it entirely.

  • i wonder if my induction cookware can be set in the passenger floorboard and cook soup while im driving home? Other than burning the carpet of course.

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