Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2022 - 15

TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS
An electric truck
is being wirelessly
charged in Gotland,
Sweden as part
of Electreon's
" Smartroad Gotland "
project. Image
includes technology
overview graphics.
to fully charge the battery.
Larger vehicles can support multiple
Electreon receivers. For instance, Class
8 trucks can be fitted with up to seven
undercarriage receivers. Buses could
have three receivers, while passenger
vans might have two receivers. " The
number of receivers on an electric vehicle
depends on the use case, the vehicle
size, and the vehicle type, " Ezer
said. Each Electreon receiver for heavyduty
EVs is capable of supplying up to
25 kW to the battery. Based on the
power transfer rate requirements of
light-duty passenger EVs, Electreon
offers 7 kW and 11 kW receiver options.
Michele Mueller, MDOT senior project
manager for connected and automated
vehicles, said that electrified roadways
could accelerate the adoption of EVs by
enabling continuous vehicle operation
via safe and sustainable public street
energy platforms. " A wireless in-road
charging system will be revolutionary
for EVs by potentially extending an EV's
battery charge without having to stop
(and plug-in), " Mueller said. She added
that electrified roadways also could
reduce EV range anxiety.
Michigan's largest energy provider,
DTE, anticipates the project will accelerate
interest in EVs. " As a partner, we are
taking the learnings from the project to
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
better prepare our customers for the
future of EV charging, " said Ben Burns,
DTE's director of transportation electrification.
The Detroit-based company
intends to have its own EV fleet use the
electrified roadway.
Four-season testing
The Detroit demonstration project will
provide a four-season venue to test
hardware and performance objectives.
Electreon's Tongur said that based on
findings from ongoing projects in
Europe, weather won't be an issue.
" Since the (wireless) infrastructure lies
beneath the roadway, the energy transfer
is not affected by snow and ice. The
road can be maintained - plowed, salted,
etc. - as usual without affecting the
coils beneath the asphalt, " Tongur said.
For the pilot project, the site host will
be billed for the electricity usage. That
host " can then collect revenue directly
from users through the management
unit's metering and billing capabilities, "
Burns noted. For non-pilot programs,
Electreon's Charging as a Service business
model calls for EV fleet operators
to pay a monthly subscription. The subscription
covers the wireless charging
infrastructure, operation, maintenance
and smart-charging software services,
Ezer explained.
EV sales accounted for less than 2%
of all new vehicle sales in Michigan for
2021, but double-digit percentage
growth is expected by mid-decade.
" Our internal forecast projects EV sales
to be 10 percent in 2025, 20 percent in
2030, and 35 percent in 2035, " Burns
said about Michigan's EV future. Today,
there are approximately 32,000 EVs in
Michigan with 21,800 in DTE's southeast
Michigan service territory.
Wireless charging of EVs isn't new to
America, as the largest fleet of all-electric
transit buses in the U.S. use a patented
wireless charging system from Salt
Lake City, Utah-based WAVE (Wireless
Advanced Vehicle Electrification). Fortyeight
of Southern California's Antelope
Valley Transit Authority's 54 BYD-built
buses are fitted with WAVE undercarriage
receivers. Those WAVE-compatible
electric buses use wireless charging depots
located within a 100 square-mile
(260 km) area. (See www.sae.org/
news/2022/05/wave-inductive-charging-purpose-built-for-large-evs).
Additionally,
wireless charging of EVs
via a non-public electrified roadway is
an ongoing R&D and testing endeavor
of Utah State University's Electric
Vehicle & Roadway (EVR) facility and
test track.
Kami Buchholz
August 2022 15
ELECTREON
https://www.sae.org/news/2022/05/wave-inductive-charging-purpose-built-for-large-evs
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - August 2022

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