Electreon announces successful completion of final phase of Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer (DWPT) pilot in Italy
14 June 2022
Electreon, a provider of wireless and in-road wireless electric vehicle (EV) charging technology for commercial and passenger EVs, announced the successful completion of the final phase of the company’s Electric Road System (ERS) pilot as part of the “Arena of the Future” project. Electreon says that its technology is now ready for commercialization.
“Arena del Futuro” (“Arena of the Future”) circuit built by A35 Brebemi in collaboration with Stellantis and other partners field tests Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer (DWPT).
As part of the project located in Brescia, Italy, and dubbed “Arena of the Future” Electreon integrated its wireless technology to charge an IVECO bus and Stellantis’s Fiat Nuova 500 passenger vehicle while driving. This project is demonstrating contactless charging for a range of EVs as they drive as a potential pathway to decarbonizing long-haul transportation systems along motorway transport corridors.
The construction and technical implementation of the 1,050-meter-long circuit equipped with Electreon’s properarity in-road charging coils and supported by 1MW of electrical power was completed in December 2021. For the last six months, “Arena of the Future” has been successfully showcasing Electreon’s inductive EV charging technology as a technological enabler of an immediate, concrete solution to decarbonize the mobility sector.
To date, the company’s patented technology has been integrated with a range of vehicles, as part of its ongoing collaborations with auto manufacturers including Renault, Stellantis, Iveco, and Volkswagen. In November, Electreon’s wireless charging technology was named one of TIME’s 100 Best Inventions of 2021.
This project is one of the first examples of international collaborative innovation for “zero emissions” mobility for people and goods, which today sees the collaboration of industry and academic institutions: A35 Brebemi-Aleatica, ABB, Electreon, FIAMM Energy Technology, IVECO, IVECO Bus, Mapei, Pizzarotti, Politecnico di Milano, Prysmian, Stellantis, TIM, Roma Tre University and the University of Parma.
Loads of questions on this one.
An early test in Israel using a Renault Zoe gave 91% efficiency, but I have not managed to dig out any proper tables on efficiency, for instance what the efficiency is charging a truck, where the receiver would be higher up.
Apparently this can be laid fast, from the website:
https://electreon.com/technology
But on the downside, the coils in the road are copper, where demand is already high driving up prices, to which any useful roll out of this would add.
Can anyone sleuth up more about this tech?
Posted by: Davemart | 14 June 2022 at 02:56 AM
@Dave - exactly - more data please.
How many cars can they charge at one time?
How is the power allocated between many vehicles (or is this a problem at all).
If it works as advertised and is easy to fit or retrofit to existing vehicles, it would be a boon indeed.
How close does the receiver have to be to the road - how robust is it ?
How would it effect the car battery controller if it can be charged every so often as you drive along - could easily cause bugs in the software which would not have anticipated on the go charging when written.
And how do you pay for the power and infrastructure.
Posted by: mahonj | 14 June 2022 at 03:13 AM
Aluminum will do in lieu of copper, but maintaining such a system will be a nightmare. We already have issues with failures of the magnetic sensing coils for traffic lights. Just how much worse will it be when each individual outage degrades the power transfer capability of substantial stretches of road, forcing speed limits or outright traffic limits?
I see this going the way of "solar roads".
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 14 June 2022 at 09:50 AM
@EP, well said.
+ I always considered solar roads a crazy idea. If you want solar cells, just put them up and don't drive on them.
Posted by: mahonj | 14 June 2022 at 10:56 AM
There is a bit more here:
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1136166_stellantis-fiat-500-ev-dynamic-wireless-charging
' The project employs DC rather than AC electricity for the project, which helps reduce power losses, eases the interface with renewable power sources, and allows thinner cables. It also uses aluminum cables to distribute current, which the company says costs half compared to copper while being lighter and easier to recycle. '
Posted by: Davemart | 16 June 2022 at 09:25 AM