[www.usatoday.com]

The Motor City can add a new claim to fame, as home to the country’s first wireless-charging public roadway for electric vehicles.

On Wednesday, members of the media got a chance to see it in action.

A blue electric Ford E-Transit commercial van was able to charge as it moved over a quarter-mile stretch of newly paved 14th Street, a short distance from the towering Michigan Central Station, thanks to rubber-coated copper coils buried underneath the road surface.

A large video screen set up for the occasion outside Newlab, the rehabilitated Book Depository, showed the kilowatts generated and the speed as the van made its passes on the street. Those numbers would fluctuate as the van moved along, 16 kw and 9 mph at one point, with the van at a 63% charge.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Well, one road repair crew with jackhammers will take care of that!

Interesting. I can't imagine it is efficient at all with the vehicle in motion. It would be interesting to see this adapted for street parking instead. Park over a spot with a coil and your car will charge. Integrate it with parking meters in big cities or put them in delivery vehicle parking stalls.

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C(-)ris
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This is basically a demo/photo op with no really utility at this point.

Maybe if an eV crawled along or parked on it?

I'd want to know the charge level before and after that quarter-mile, just out of curiosity.

I don't believe it could possibly be significant.

The idea of street parking seems like a good idea, but not so much.

There would have to be Draconian parking enforcement to keep them empty, particularly with rollin' coal types how feel it their duty to fight the eVs comin' for their ICE.

There's also the lesser-motivated contingent that will see eV owners as self-entitled, completely overlooking the municipality that provided/granted the entitlement.

Oh, and global warming is a hoax.

I'd like to see a lot more charging capability, but with equal effort to meaningfully dissuade other from using the space.

Disabled parking is really abused where I am, and I'd expect worse for EV Parking Only.

The theory is good.

People suck.

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I don't believe it could possibly be significant.

proof of concept. they wanted to prove that it could work, and it does. the applications will come at a later date, and in all sorts of permutations.

have you been to a city with traffic? cars sit at lights for minutes at a time! multiple times! in one commute! just think of the charging that could be done while you're sitting there doing... nothing.

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An underwater guy who controlled the sea
Got killed by ten million pounds of sludge from New York and New Jersey

Quote
RAMd®d
There would have to be Draconian parking enforcement to keep them empty, particularly with rollin' coal types how feel it their duty to fight the eVs comin' for their ICE.

There's also the lesser-motivated contingent that will see eV owners as self-entitled, completely overlooking the municipality that provided/granted the entitlement.

I had a trunk hinge replaced today at my local dealer (a four hour project). While waiting for the car, I wandered through the showroom and outside to look at new vehicles. The GM dealer had four EVGo chargers. I was outside near a charger when a BMW pulled up to recharge. He tried three times to get a charge before giving up, each time the charger recognized the car, gave a ready to charge indication and then failed. The guy told me he was going to try elsewhere - because the dealer had a Bolt on one charger and someone had parked his big pickup diagonally across the other two chargers. I mentioned this to a couple of sales people who got the Bolt moved but could do nothing about the pickup.

They also mentioned the general manager drives a Lyriq, the only Lyriq in my small city. I thought that was interesting because dealers stand to lose service work on EVs. They had a half dozen Bolts and one $60k-window sticker e-Blazer. They also mentioned the dealer paid for the charger installs.

Oh, my repair including a new hinge was $600+ out the door, my first normal repair on my 2014 Cadillac ELR PHEV.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2023 10:48PM by Speedy.

My guess is that service needs won't drop significantly with EV's. May not need oil changes, but they need tires, brakes, lubrication and have a ton of control circuits.

I can see wireless charging via roadways to be a nightmare. The roads in the Northeast are already $h!t. The cost to install wireless charging and keep it operational as well as safe would probably be horrific.

So Ford Motor company bought our old train station nearby and is rehabbing it into a office building. I guess that nearby stretch of road is "proof of concept" or bragging rights for the idea.



They do cool projected light shows on the outside of the building

I work near a Meijer grocery store and remember years back when they put in a 8 or 12 vehicle Tesla Charging station on the outskirts of the parking lot. Although they were building a Amazon warehouse next door - I couldn't imagine 12 Teslas needing to charge all at once (but I think any EV can charge?)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2023 09:03AM by ArtP.

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C(-)ris
Interesting. I can't imagine it is efficient at all with the vehicle in motion. It would be interesting to see this adapted for street parking instead. Park over a spot with a coil and your car will charge. Integrate it with parking meters in big cities or put them in delivery vehicle parking stalls.

Put them in all lanes at traffic lights and they could be very effective, especially if they were hi-speed chargers.

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Ed (modelamac)

Trying to figure out some people is like trying to smell the number 9.

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macphanatic
My guess is that service needs won't drop significantly with EV's. May not need oil changes, but they need tires, brakes, lubrication and have a ton of control circuits.

You would be wrong about this, and you don’t have to guess…..just ask any Tesla owner here.

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Carnos Jax

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macphanatic
My guess is that service needs won't drop significantly with EV's. May not need oil changes, but they need tires, brakes, lubrication and have a ton of control circuits.

You would be wrong about this, and you don’t have to guess…..just ask any Tesla owner here.

There aren't any lubrication requirements? Reliability might be better but they still should need some level of service.

Key word being “some”. It’s significantly less, as opposed to “needs won't drop significantly”.

Think about this, no engine oil or filter change, spark plugs, drive belts, timing chain, alternator or water pump replacement, flushing the coolant, brake pads (I don’t know anyone who’s changed their brake pads yet on an EV), engine air filter, etc.

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macphanatic
My guess is that service needs won't drop significantly with EV's. May not need oil changes, but they need tires, brakes, lubrication and have a ton of control circuits.

EVs are hard on tires thanks to lots of low end torque, weight and acceleration. No measurable brake wear on my car at 83k miles. I do change the oil every 15k miles. My only repair has been to one of the trunk hinges. My battery range on my 10 year old PHEV is at 70% of new. Also, much like an ICE vehicle, my range drops in the winter. I think that covers the main things.

However, my PHEV hit the local Firestone tire store today because of a slow leak (I love individual wheel TPMS). It wasn’t a tire but a stupid low profile 20” wheel (Cadillac ELR) was cracked thanks to too many potholes. I hate low profile tires. They ride rough and I don’t think they make the car look better which is their sole purpose. There is absolutely nothing redeeming about them. With shipping, etc. a new wheel is going to run me $496.73. Then I get to pay the tire shop another $50+ for mounting, balancing, etc. Of course, this is not exclusive to EVs but the added weight of the battery makes this more likely to happen. And one more thing, my tire size is not always carried so I schlep around a tire in my backseat whenever I travel. Also, a plug kit and a small air compressor just to get me to a tire shop to mount one they sell or my backseat spare.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.