this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2023
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Detroit is now home to the country's first chunk of road that can wirelessly charge an electric vehicle (EV), whether it's parked or moving.

Why it matters: Wireless charging on an electrified roadway could remove one of the biggest hassles of owning an EV: the need to stop and plug in regularly.

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[–] [email protected] 175 points 11 months ago (81 children)

Americans will literally do anything to not build trains

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

I would love to have both. Especially trains! The trains here are so bad though. They cost more than flying and are such a hassle to deal with. The train stations are sometimes far away from the city in some cases too. So you need a ride from the station.

I would support building that out if it was offered.

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[–] [email protected] 71 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

EEVBlog, Dave, where you at? We need a debunking video. This smells like solar freakin' roadways.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

I thought the same thing!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

It's not as bad as solar roadways, but it's still a meh idea. It works, but it's not very efficient. You need coils of wire built into the road, which means replacing the concrete. Still need to upgrade the power grid to handle the load. If it's not 100% tax subsidized, then it has to track where you're car is in order to charge you properly.

It solves few problems and adds some of its own.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Why occasionally plug in when you can lose roughly 50% efficiency and not. Such a boondoggle.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The point would not be to never plug in, but instead extend the drive time of an EV by using certain roads.

If on a full charge you get 250miles, but if you take a slightly alternative route and get 500 miles, you’re going to have much less resistance to EVs in any community that would be likely to use these roads.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (8 children)

You missed the 50% loss. Wasted energy. Means you have more infrastructure delivering electricity that isn't utilized. Means you have more production that isn't utilized.

And batteries already have a loss of up to 20% during charge from heating.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Goddamn we can't even maintain the basic roads we have, much less a much more expensive and complicated one. It'll be obliterated by salt and snow the first winter and never work again.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

I can just imagine all the tweakers tearing up the road to get at any copper wiring it might be using.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Financially or electrically?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago

There's a lot of details missing here. It sort of makes sense if you are parked on the street, but it says you can also get a charge while driving. How much battery capacity can you realistically expect to get driving down this stretch of road? Like within the limitations of physics. Maybe if the highway system had this installed but it would be outrageously expensive to replace it all. I also have major doubts that a universal standard would be agreed upon by all manufacturers and municipalities.

Money would be better spent installing more frequent charging stations, which I understand is already the plan.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Now when will the capitalism kick in and if you don't pay your monthly sub you don't get road charging

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Roads are paid for via taxes

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (4 children)

That sounds like it would be very inefficient and produce massive amounts of RFI.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

Kinda like F-Zero?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Charging keeps getting presented as a major hassle but it really really isn't. Trickle charge overnight is more than plenty for a day of driving.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (3 children)

This is America son, I can drive 11 hours a day and still be in the same state.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (11 children)

You know what other form of transportation wirelessly recieves power? Trains.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Wirelessly?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Anyone else getting FZero vibes?

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