Highway Charging While Driving

[Cybertruckee]

Enjoying the banter on engineering of this thingamajig.

But for all the spit and brain matters (synapsis), I simply happy that someone, decidedly with deep pockets, is trying and who knows, can overcome the technical hurdles that will benefit us all -- still hopeful Cybertruckees and/or F150 Lightning owners

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[CyberGus]

Automated fleets are a non-starter until charging can be automated as well.

Having power in the highways would allow EV Semis to run continuously, with much smaller battery packs.

 

[JBee]

Drove down this highway in Germany the other day.
BTW Trollybusses have been in operation there for 70years.

 

[SparkChaser]

Automated fleets are a non-starter until charging can be automated as well.

Having power in the highways would allow EV Semis to run continuously, with much smaller battery packs.

 

[happy intruder]

Drove down this highway in Germany the other day.
BTW Trollybusses have been in operation there for 70years.

we had those when I was a young child in Washington, DC and Atlanta back in 1954 and 1956...we called them streetcars.....before the poulting buses came along

 

[anionic1]

Boom. There you have it. Just like that, in less than three days, an intelligent observer makes enough of a case to show how implausible this system is.

Park for an hour...in Detroit?!?!?!

I am willing to put money on my statement that real life application of induction charging on vehicles moving on a roadway will see efficiency losses in the 30% range at least. It’s great that in a lab they can get 95% efficiency with induction coils in ideal locations a few feet from the power inverter. Now put a transformer a half a mile down the street and see how efficient it is. No way will they put higher voltages anywhere near the street surface in the US so it’s going to be cranking out some amps and will work equally as a de-icing loop.

I am involved with a lot of power company infrastructure I have a project with 16,000 amps coming to it down a street and they are coming to me asking for input. I am not designing it but I am pricing it and working with the design team to find the sweet spot between cost and practicality. Doing these cute 1 mile projects is great. Implementing this type of system at a large scale and actually having it pencil out is another.

I will file this one next to efficiently sucking carbon dioxide out of the air and efficient carbon capture from ICE vehicles. Yes it works, but at what cost.

 

[anionic1]

At that point they might as well bring back cable cars. They knew about induction when cable cars were around and they didn’t use it then, but maybe we have figured out how to coil wires better than they did.

 

[Crissa]

At that point they might as well bring back cable cars. They knew about induction when cable cars were around and they didn’t use it then, but maybe we have figured out how to coil wires better than they did.

Sure, but they didn't have radios yet.

-Crissa

 

[anionic1]

Sure, but they didn't have radios yet.

-Crissa

You are right and they probably originally used DC motors. Soon they figured out the current modulation (AC) then they figured out amplitude modulation, then they figured out frequency modulation. And thank God they did. They were using transformers before radios so they definitely understood induction.

 

[Crissa]

Induction was found pretty early, but making it useful was not a short endeavor. And at that point, it had to be wound together. The rulea for windings haven't changed in about a hundred years, but materials have changed, and we're learning there are still things to learn, new ways of aligning things.

Calculations are possible now that were just in the realm of son't bother when I took my first electronics courses.

-Crissa

 

[BillyGee]

Having power in the highways would allow EV Semis to run continuously, with much smaller battery packs.

It's a great idea on principle, but it runs into the same issue as solar roadways. At the end of the day you'll be building infrastructure that must be maintained over massive distances for minimal gain, if any.

 

[alan auerbach]

There are 4M miles of roads in the US, with highways accounting for 150,000 miles. That's a real expensive infrastructure bill there.

Still, I'm a huge fan of wireless charging. I'm a little disappointed Tesla is not aggressively pursuing this solution.

Highways could include induction charging, ice-melt heating, load-bearing detection, and who knows what else. The issue is the cost/benefit ratio, and until that becomes appealing, I don't see Tesla participating.

 

[ldjessee]

There are ways to move cargo more efficiently, and it is never going to be a semi, it will always be a train.

We could electrify rail faster than digging up roads to put these induction sections in, plus the number of transformers and such needed to support this.

I have seen trains of different types (low speed, in city street car, commuter rail neighborhood to neighborhood-like subway, medium speed city to city, and high speed across country) use electricity and it being provided off-board (via wires, third rail, induction, etc). Since some of these could be done by retrofitting already existing infrastructure, not a big deal.

Also, could provide power to help accelerate the train or help it brake near stops and/or cities would help cut down on the infrastructure roll out and still use existing rolling stock (since most trains are electric, even here in the US they have been serial hybrids for a while) with possibly some modifications to allow the electricity to be provided from off-board.

I do see a need for EV Semi/Tractor-trailer vehicles, but mostly for moving cargo containers to and from ports & rail heads and from rail heads to distribution centers. It used to be all distribution centers were always located at a rail head, but lately it seems lots of warehouses & distribution centers are being built near airports.

Then box trucks and 'bread' trucks for local delivery.

But logic and doing what is right has never stopped people from doing what makes them more money or what makes them feel better...

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