The Times, 23 January 2015. Graeme Paton Transport Correspondent.
A network of “electrified motorways” could be developed to increase the number of green cars on the roads.
The Highways Agency is testing the feasibility of installing wireless technology beneath roads, which would charge electric and hybrid cars on the go.
As part of the proposals, power would be transmitted between coils buried in the highway and a passing car, providing a continuous energy supply.
Similar technology has already been adapted to power buses in Milton Keynes, charging stationary vehicles at key points. This“dynamic” version of the system would charge moving cars.
The £200,000 feasibility study is expected to be completed by the summer before progressing to full off-road trials.
It is hoped the move would boost the number of electric vehicles. A record 14,500 were registered last year — four times the total in 2013.
Motoring groups welcomed the move but warned that the cost would be huge. Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “Given the very high mileage taking place on the motorways, inductive charging on this limited but crucial network might ease range anxiety for electric car drivers, but there are big problems.
“The cost is likely to be enormous and you are setting in stone today’s view on the future of road transport, while tomorrow’s green cars might rely on another fuel such as hydrogen.”
The Highways Agency commissioned the research as part of a £150 million innovation fund. It is being led by the Transport Research Laboratory and the engineering consultants Halcrow.
Electric car charging points have been installed around the country, with 900 in London, but the new research will look at placing electromagnetic charging networks in the road itself.
A high-voltage line would run alongside the road, feeding coils buried beneath the highway. An electromagnetic field would be generated when a secondary coil in the car passed overhead, transferring energy to the vehicle. Conventional electric cars would have to be adapted to the system.
The Times letters, 23 January 2015
Sir, Your article on feeding electrical power directly to cars is a welcome reworking of Sir Clive Sinclair’s proposals in the 1980s, and (“Scalextric roads to power green cars on the go,” Jan 23). There are other, similar ways of achieving the same result, the most intellectually fascinating being the method used by Nikola Tesla to power his Pierce Arrow motor car in the 1930s. This system may have failed because there is no practical way to meter and charge for the electricity. However, the same applies to road usage, and the problem could be solved in the same way.
Peter Rutherford
London NW6