Wireless electric car charging is a real sea serpent. That said, we are getting a little closer to becoming a reality with this new announcement: a street in Detroit in the United States is now equipped with induction chargers, capable of charge electric cars while driving. But there is still a long way to go.
Who says electric car, necessarily means recharging. If cable charging is part of our daily lives, the idea of wireless charging has been talked about a lot for many years, and we like to tell you about the latest advances in this sector.
Whether for Volvo taxis, at traffic lights or on highways, projects abound and become more and more promising, but most often remain in laboratories. Things are a priori changing, since Electreon, which we already know for having driven a car for 2,000 kilometers without stopping to recharge, has just equipped a street in Detroit with induction chargers.
400 meters to start
It was a post from Sawyer Merritt on X (formerly Twitter) which informed us of the news: the city of Detroit has therefore entered into a partnership with this Israeli company specializing in wireless electric vehicle charging. If the city eventually promises a whole mile (1.6 km) of induction road scattered throughout its territory, today we have to settle for a quarter of a mile (400 meters).
Concretely, this portion of 14th Street, in the heart of the city, is equipped with coils that activate when a compatible vehicle passes over it. Testing will begin in early 2024 with a Ford E-Transit equipped with this technology – a completely logical choice, Detroit being Ford’s hometown, among many other automobile brands.
Lots of unanswered questions
The fact remains that, behind this announcement, little information has been communicated. The most crucial being: what is the maximum charging power? It would take a lot to be able to recharge your car acceptably over just 400 meters… We won’t know.
Electreon also remains calm: in its press release, the company assures that this installation only serves as a test support and that a general public solution will not see the light of day for several years.
Let’s go further: do we really need induction roads? Charging stations are multiplying, the power of the terminals is only increasing and recharging in 10 minutes seems to become a certainty in the near future. The fact remains that this technology continues to interest many people, Tesla included! One thing is certain, we will not fail to inform you of future developments in the sector.