Two recent wireless charging pilots show the potential for using this technology with commercial electric vehicle fleets.
The Indiana Department of Transportation and Purdue University are working to equip a quarter-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 231 in West Lafayette, Indiana, to wirelessly charge electric trucks. According to a press release from Purdue University, a test truck powered by Cummins will drive the stretch in tests starting next year.
Construction of the test track began April 1 and is expected to continue into the fall. This follows laboratory tests to see whether concrete sections and highway pavements can withstand the weight of loaded trucks.
Indiana Road will be used in a dynamic wireless charging test (photo via Purdue University)
The charging hardware designed by Purdue is intended to operate at higher power levels than other systems demonstrated in the US to date, making it more suitable for heavy-duty vehicles, the university claims. If the tests are successful, Purdue and the Indiana state government hope to add tolls to the longer stretch of highway within the next four to five years.
This dynamic wireless charging feature – in which vehicles are charged as they move – has been the subject of tests and pilot programs in Michigan, Sweden and Israel. Stellantis tested this idea with one Fiat 500 is electric in 2022, and one Filed a Ford patent said the Blue Oval is also working on it.
Wireless charging company WiTricity also recently launched a six-month pilot program with International Transportation Service LLC to test wireless charging technology on a fleet of Ford E-Transit trucks at the Port of Long Beach. In this case, vehicles park on a pad to charge, with performance said to be equivalent to a conventional Level 2 AC charger.
Ford E-Transit with WiTricity wireless charger
There are several potential benefits of wireless charging, including possible better charging accessibility allows the use of smaller EV batteries, thus making it possible to reduce the cost and weight of these vehicles. And overall, wireless charging is possible making electric vehicles more livable daily by removing cables and connectors.
The higher level of automation Allowing wireless charging also helps pave the way for self-driving electric cars because it would remove one more point of human involvement in the process. But self-driving cars themselves must prove reliable and commercially viable – certainly not something to be taken for granted.
