Wireless EV Charging Would Go Perfectly With Solar Highways
Wireless EV charging has a lot going for it, especially when it’s embedded in a road. Recharging an EV battery while in motion is more convenient than pulling off to find a public charging station. EVs equipped for road-embedded wireless charging might also be more economical, because they could log more miles with a smaller battery pack. The problem is where to get the electricity for a wireless EV charging system, and the answer has been staring us in the face all along.
Solar-Equipped Highways For Wireless EV Charging
A wave of opposition to rural solar development has been surging across the US, but it’s difficult to make a case against solar development when the land in question is already paved over. If you’re thinking that highways could be equipped with solar canopies to provide electricity for wireless in-road EV charging systems, run right out and buy yourself a cigar.
A team of scientists based in China and the US ran the numbers, and they concluded that the opportunities for solar highways and other main arteries are substantial. The engineering, maintenance, and repair obstacles are significant, but just a small fraction of solarized highway could make a difference.
They don’t mean embedding solar panels in roadbeds, though. According to the research team, the potential for installing that technology at scale is somewhere off in the future. They mean solar canopies, which are already widely used in built infrastructure. Parking lots have been the primary target, and a solar-covered canal is also in the works.
The team published their study in the open access journal Earth’s Future on July 15 under the title, “Roofing Highways With Solar Panels Substantially Reduces Carbon Emissions and Traffic Losses.”
The research team doesn’t address wireless EV charging, but they do make a compelling case for surmounting the challenges involved in erecting solar canopies over miles of highway.
Many miles, that is. The researchers put the global supply of highway at 1.9 million miles, enough to go around the equator more than 250 times.
That’s a lot of paved surface that could perform double duty as a host for solar canopies. The American Geophysical Union, for one, is excited. “Building solar roofs over highways would put already-developed land to use generating electricity, decreasing demand for greenhouse gas-producing energy and ultimately reducing carbon emissions,” AGU explained in a press release describing the new study.
“Covering Earth’s highways with solar roofs could generate 17.58 petawatt hours of electricity per year, equivalent to more than 60% of the world’s total electricity consumption in 2023,” emphasizes study lead author Lin Yao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
How Solar Roofs Can Benefit Wireless EV Charging
The researchers also suggest that solar canopies could reduce traffic deaths by shielding drivers from inclement weather. Additional benefits could also be in play. Cutting the risk of accidents caused by glare is another potential benefit, for example.
To the extent that potholes and other road damage are weather-related, a solar canopy could trim the need for repairs to both vehicles and highways. A shady covering would also keep highways cooler in the summer, reducing heat-related wear and tear on tires.
Also in the category of damage prevention would be protection for equipment embedded in roads, namely, wireless EV charging systems.
The Wireless EV Charging Solution Of Tomorrow, Today
Aside from the benefit of convenience, both stationary and in-road wireless EV charging systems could also help reduce the equipment breakdowns and occasional vandalism that have been bedeviling the public charging station network here in the US. In the case of stationary wireless chargers, the minimal above-ground infrastructure could also open up more locations for installing a charging station, helping to accelerate the build-out of the public charging station network.
Wireless charging is also a better fit for an economy increasingly dominated by delivery and gig workers, who would save precious time whether using stationary or in-road wireless chargers. It’s also a plus for drivers with disabilities or anyone else who would rather stay inside their vehicle while charging.
Despite the benefits, it’s been a long row to hoe for wireless charging enthusiasts.
“Wireless EV charging systems first crossed the CleanTechnica radar about 12 years ago, and 12 years later the question is: Where are all the wireless EV chargers?” I wrote just a few weeks ago.
Well, they are coming. Indiana, Detroit, and Pennsylvania all have road-embedded projects in the pipeline. Progress has been slow up to now, but a new industry partnership headed by the Pennsylvania firm InductEV could kickstart support for in-road charging systems from the commercial fleet industry.
In a recent press release, InductEV also indicated an interest in seaports and other logistics operations. The Port of Los Angeles, for example, is already making a strong case for stationary wireless charging, and may be ready for the next step.
In-Road Charging For Electric Trucks
Circling back around to that thing about fleet vehicles, wireless in-road EV charging is not just for passenger cars. Stakeholders in the bus and truck field are also interested in the time-saving potential.
The Indiana project, for example, will send an electric truck provided by the leading firm Cummins down a 1/4-mile stretch of US Highway 231/52 in West Lafayette. A team of engineers from Purdue University designed the wireless EV charging system specifically to accommodate heavy duty electric trucks., with follow-on benefits for smaller vehicles.
“The Purdue-designed wireless charging system is intended to work at power levels much higher than what has been demonstrated in the U.S. so far,” Purdue explains. “By accommodating the higher power needs for heavy-duty vehicles, the design is also able to support the lower power needs of other vehicle classes.”
In case you’re wondering why the state of Indiana is front and center in the futuristic field of in-road wireless charging, that’s a good question.
According to Purdue, about 80% of the US can be reached from pass-through highways in Indiana, within a day’s drive. “Building electrified highways with heavy-duty trucks in mind would maximize greenhouse gas reductions and the economic feasibility of developing infrastructure for EVs,” they note.
If you have any thoughts about installing solar canopies over some of those pass-through highways, drop a note in the comment thread.
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Photo (cropped): “This photo shows construction happening May 1 on a quarter-mile segment that will be used for testing wireless power transfer to a heavy-duty electric truck as it drives across the pavement” (Purdue University photo/Greta Bell).
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