On one side, magnetic coils slipped under the asphalt will recharge the batteries by induction, like mobile phones. On the other, a rail inserted flush with the asphalt will allow equipped vehicles to connect to the ground.
These “electric road” systems could accelerate the revolution underway in the automotive industry: they allow electric vehicles to drive longer, without stopping to recharge, and without dragging heavy batteries that consume rare materials.
The “electric road” will be essential in particular to quickly electrify heavy goods vehicles, which still run massively on diesel, according to reports submitted to the Ministry of Transport in the summer of 2021.
First tests in September 2023
On the A10, the idea is to test these solutions at high speed. It is “raise the last remaining questions, before deploying these technologies on a large scale, over hundreds or thousands of kilometers“, explains Louis du Pasquier, in charge of the project at Vinci.
The first tests will be carried out in September 2023 in Rouen on a closed Cerema track, a public establishment under the supervision of the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
These dynamic charging systems will then be installed on four kilometers of the right lane of the A10 in the Paris-Orléans direction, upstream of the Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines toll gate. Chargers only activate with compatible vehicles.
Barriers remain to be lifted: according to reports made to the ministry, induction is not powerful and remains expensive to install, while the rail can become clogged and pose problems for two-wheelers, in particular.
A 3-year experience
In addition to induction and the conductive rail, a third solution is being tested in Germany, using a catenary as for trams: it is “the most technically advanced“, but it only supplies trucks, and the necessary pylons on the side of the road pose road safety problems, underlined the report submitted to the Ministry of Transport.
The startup Electreon, which supplies the induction system, already has projects in Israel, Sweden, the United States and Italy, where Fiat is testing the charging of a small 500. The Elonroad consortium, which supplies the rail, the testing since 2019 in southern Sweden.
The experiment on the A10 will be spread over three years for a budget of 26 million euros, with the support of the France 2030 public plan via the Public Investment Bank (BPI). Hutchinson, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, will manufacture the coils, and the Gustave-Eiffel University will monitor the effectiveness of the various solutions.