Reader question: Why not electrify the highways?
by Sebastian Blanco on May 5th 2009 at 2:52PM 
From the AutoblogGreen inbox:
I just have a question:B is right that hardwiring all the highways in the U.S. for electric cars is not a top priority for anyone, but there was the TriTrack idea we heard about last fall, which does allow for reloading EVs while on the move. Better Place's battery swap system is also designed to keep cars moving as soon as possible and doesn't require new roads or wires everywhere.
Why is nobody talking about loading electric cars while driving?
It's readily available for buses in cities via overhead lines, is readily available for my toy car race track with a wire in the street? Just put such system on highways, and all loading problems are solved?
thanks, B
Overhead wires make sense for buses that move along a predetermined route because then you don't need to put wires on every street (I think that in some cities - San Francisco - the buses are able to drive on their own when there are no wires overhead). I can't think of a situation where it makes financial sense to string power lines above every street in the U.S., but let's open up the discussion here. Can anyone imagine a scenario where charging while driving not only makes sense to the driver but also to the automakers and those tasked with building the infrastructure? Are there any ideas we can take from slot cars and make work for EVs?
Photo by Ted Van Pelt. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
stevezilla 2:59PM (5/05/2009)
This is a horrible idea. Cars need to be able to change lanes, enter & exit freeways, etc. Besides, people can't seem to keep correct air pressure in their tires; can we count on the average car owner to keep the electrical components that maintain contact with the power supply in good working condition? How will it prevent me from pulling electricity into extra batteries for use off the grid?
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Quantumphysics 7:37AM (5/12/2009)
EV's are a stupid idea until battery technology and recharging technology improve to the point where it takes 10 minutes or so to recharge a car... so I don't see EV's catching on for at least 10 years.
But this idea is ridiculous.
#1 The cost would be double-astronomical. A New digital power grid to replace our regular power grid will cost over $2Trillion.
#2 the streets would look horrible, and be dagerous. Melting snow and salt would cause fatalities.
The only possibility I see is if some highways had a very long "3rd rail" that EV's could hop onto and off of for a quick recharge (over about 20 miles of length or so)...but its still dangerous and costly.
Frankencar 5:35AM (5/27/2009)
If you think that an EV battery can't be charged in ten to fifteen minutes, you haven't done your homework. Look up Altair Nano, nano-safe batteries. They are, simply put, friggin amazing. Also, if you think EV's aren't going to catch on for ten years...I may agree with you as far as a full national transformation, but take a look at where the industry is heading. Nearly every large OEM is building some type of plug in hybrid and/or fully electric car in the next five years.
Mark Stevenson (AutoNorth.ca) 3:07PM (5/05/2009)
One word: snow.
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Tohe 5:09PM (5/05/2009)
3 words: Intermittent insulated lanes.
Ted 3:13PM (5/05/2009)
Dont think a slot car type set up can ever work, but charging through conctactless induction from coils set into the roadway might be possible??
A trans-continental trip in an EV without stopping? Cool!! (Untill you fall asleep at the wheel)
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mapoftazifosho 3:16PM (5/05/2009)
Catheter , cocaine, and gallons of water. NY to LA...do it!
paulwesterberg 6:28PM (5/05/2009)
induction or wireless energy transfer is only about 50% efficient which means it would waste a lot of energy.
tinman 3:18PM (5/05/2009)
Inductive coupling has been done. I believe there was a test program and circuit (road circuit) done some time ago in sunny Cal. One of the smarter readers will remember. It was done with buses.
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Dan 3:23PM (5/05/2009)
Even if you could charge wirelessly through induction, there's the huge expense of digging up all those streets and laying wire. Maybe you could set up hotspots at busy intersections where electric cars can get a small charge from the minute or two they're waiting for the traffic light.
I don't think a few minutes is long enough to get a useful charge though. If it takes longer than that to cross an intersection, you have more serious problems like congestion, pollution and wasted energy from the non-electric cars.
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win39 3:24PM (5/05/2009)
Nothing worse than the black nest of wires overhead blocking out the sky needed to do that, with the crackling, snapping and arcing that occurs with connecting and disconnecting and switching to another line. As someone who has lived in my youth through that ugliness I do not want to return to that. An electrified rail in the highway surface seems incredibly dangerous, not to mention reliabilty problems with the vagaries of water and ice and snow. Plus no one is going to give away energy. Some system of identification of the car will have to be worked out so you can be billed for the top up at an unknown electric rate, regardless of who is driving.
An alternative might be to increase the number of rest stops with vending charging stations. It would probably be profitable to sell space to restaurants and shops who would like to take advantage of the captive audience waiting to complete their recharge.
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Jeremy 4:02PM (5/05/2009)
Long stretches of highway like in rural areas or West Texas. Basically anywhere that a majority of drivers will be traveling for long distances on the same road. Even having intermitent charging zones that would power up until the next one. You could then add smart drive technology to enable automated control in the far left lane. 100+ mph safe hands-free driving with no gas usage. I'm in!
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Chris 3:42PM (5/05/2009)
I think the best way for something like this to work would be to lay metal strips in the middle of the lanes a few inches wide, and have the car have an arm that would hang down with a roller on the end of it that would make contact with the metal strip. obviously you would have to have pretty good aim to line that up so maybe a few rollers on the bottom a few inches apart would work.
then you have to worry about electrocution, which would certainly limit this to highways where no pedestrian traffic is allowed. Also rain and snow and such, what would all that do?
Then you have to worry about what kind of load that would put on the system, hundreds of electric cars attached to a few strips all drawing power, what kind of recharging could you actually achieve while keeping the whole system safe?
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Chris M 3:51PM (5/05/2009)
Thats why a magnetic induction system might be a better choice. Or perhaps incorporate it into a recessed slot in a guard rail along the side or in the median of the road.
woodc85 3:54PM (5/05/2009)
I think the big thing with the magnetic induction though would be the huge costs. With a strip of metal you're just laying down a strip of metal in the middle of the roadway, at most setting it in about an inch or so.
Steve Meister 3:47PM (5/05/2009)
Induction charging strips on highways would be great for extending the range of EVs.
They'd probably have to be toll lanes, in order to recoup the expense of installation and of providing power.
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Mac 3:47PM (5/05/2009)
Well lets look at it from an efficiency standpoint:
-Cars could weigh a lot less by reducing the size of the battery packs needed.
-Regenerative braking could be pumped back in to the grid if the cars' battery is already full, like the newer NYC subways do (4-5-6 trains)
-Being able to use the new overhead wiring, and the real estate that the highways already take up to form a national smart grid.
Now from a logistics standpoint:
-Switching lanes could be done, some of the buses that use a similar system have the ability to. But lets say if you were going to change lanes the overhead electrical pickup would retract a bit, the car would run of battery for a couple seconds, then it would go back to the overhead wiring. There's probably a better solution to this than what I said, but o well.
-All the technology regarding laser cruise control, blind spot sensors, gps, various other perimeter sensing equipment, etc....could all be used to form an autopilot system where cars could run in lengths of lets say 3 or 4 while reducing drag, letting the driver relax (nap? haha), helping traffic, and therefore increasing efficiency. This has been done in the 90's by researchers in I believe California where they lined a stretch of highway with magnets or something and allowed 3 or 4 buick regals to literally drive themselves, another example was in France in the early 90s (I think..) 2 Mercedes S class sedans drove around french roads for I believe almost a thousand miles without any driver input.
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Tohe 3:50PM (5/05/2009)
I feel nostalgic now! I think most of us have given this idea some thought, it seems only logical. There would be virtually unlimited range, less batteries to recycle (EVs would only need batteries powerful enough to make it to the electrified road) among other benefits.
On the other side of the argument, we find we would need an electrical grid powerful enough to electrify our roads. We would also have to tackle safety concerns, infrastructure costs etc. In the end, it comes down to money and bureaucracy, a grim reality which often renders good ideas victims of the political process.
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jason 4:06PM (5/05/2009)
in my area, i think this would work well for commuting. if your e.v. could go 30-40 miles on battery, then hit a toll road that has electric power to commute into the city. you then would have more charge when you get into the city. the toll road would be a simple/proven way to pay for the electricity. maybe you could also use the electric system to somehow control the car as well.
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Bob 3:58PM (5/06/2009)
There is no way that induction will come close to moving enough amps to keep an EV charged. Aside from that, you're generating a magnetic field right below an object that is made out of tons of magnetic material. Consider the Tesla Roadster:
185kw motor / 375 volt electrical = 493 Amps peak
Overhead wires wont work, tracks along the roadways wont work (rain and snow??), and there has to be something bad about blanketing roadways with huge, powerful magnetic fields.
Personal transport is always going to require onboard power storage, be it in the form of electrons, gasoline, or whatever else.
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