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dynamic charging
An electric road, eroad, e-roadway, or electric road system (ERS) is a road which supplies electric power to vehicles travelling on it. Common implementations are overhead power lines above the road, ground-level power supply through conductive rails, and dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) through resonant inductive coils or inductive cables embedded in the road.
Overhead power lines are limited to commercial vehicles while ground-level rails and inductive power transfer can be used by any vehicle, which allows for public charging through a system for power metering and billing. Research papers for the government of Sweden, published in 2019, and France, published in 2021, separately estimate that in-road conductive rail ERS is the most cost-effective.
As of 2024 there were about 10 operational ERS demonstrators around the world, and their business cases and deployment strategies are being evaluated. As of 2025 electric road technical standards are only available for in-road rail of the three ERS technologies.
Government studies and trials have been conducted in several countries seeking a national electric road network:
Korea was the first to implement an induction-based public electric road with a commercial bus line in 2013 after testing an experimental shuttle service in 2009, but it was shut down due to aging infrastructure amidst controversy over the continued public funding of the technology.
United Kingdom municipal research projects in 2015 and 2021 found wireless electric roads financially unfeasible.
Sweden assessed of various electric road technologies from 2013 through 2024 under the Swedish Transport Administration electric road program. After receiving electric road construction offers in excess of the program's budget in 2023, Sweden pursued cost-reduction measures for either wireless or rail electric roads. The project's final report was published in 2024. It recommends against funding a national electric road network in Sweden as it would not be cost-effective, unless the technology was first adopted by its trading partners such as France and Germany.
Germany found in 2023 that the wireless electric road system (wERS) by Electreon collects by its receivers 64.3% of the power output of its transmitters, poses many difficulties during installation, and blocks access to other infrastructure in the road. Germany trialed overhead lines in three projects in the 2010s and 2020s, and reported they are too expensive, difficult to maintain, and pose a safety risk.
France found the same drawbacks for overhead lines as Germany, and began testing inductive and rail electric road systems in 2023.
India announced plans in 2023 for a national electric road network, beginning with a road between Sohna and Jaipur. As of late 2024, ground-level power supply is being considered for the project.
Other than describing electric road systems, terms like "electric highway" may also describe regular roads fitted with charging stations at regular intervals.
View More On Wikipedia.org
Overhead power lines are limited to commercial vehicles while ground-level rails and inductive power transfer can be used by any vehicle, which allows for public charging through a system for power metering and billing. Research papers for the government of Sweden, published in 2019, and France, published in 2021, separately estimate that in-road conductive rail ERS is the most cost-effective.
As of 2024 there were about 10 operational ERS demonstrators around the world, and their business cases and deployment strategies are being evaluated. As of 2025 electric road technical standards are only available for in-road rail of the three ERS technologies.
Government studies and trials have been conducted in several countries seeking a national electric road network:
Korea was the first to implement an induction-based public electric road with a commercial bus line in 2013 after testing an experimental shuttle service in 2009, but it was shut down due to aging infrastructure amidst controversy over the continued public funding of the technology.
United Kingdom municipal research projects in 2015 and 2021 found wireless electric roads financially unfeasible.
Sweden assessed of various electric road technologies from 2013 through 2024 under the Swedish Transport Administration electric road program. After receiving electric road construction offers in excess of the program's budget in 2023, Sweden pursued cost-reduction measures for either wireless or rail electric roads. The project's final report was published in 2024. It recommends against funding a national electric road network in Sweden as it would not be cost-effective, unless the technology was first adopted by its trading partners such as France and Germany.
Germany found in 2023 that the wireless electric road system (wERS) by Electreon collects by its receivers 64.3% of the power output of its transmitters, poses many difficulties during installation, and blocks access to other infrastructure in the road. Germany trialed overhead lines in three projects in the 2010s and 2020s, and reported they are too expensive, difficult to maintain, and pose a safety risk.
France found the same drawbacks for overhead lines as Germany, and began testing inductive and rail electric road systems in 2023.
India announced plans in 2023 for a national electric road network, beginning with a road between Sohna and Jaipur. As of late 2024, ground-level power supply is being considered for the project.
Other than describing electric road systems, terms like "electric highway" may also describe regular roads fitted with charging stations at regular intervals.
View More On Wikipedia.org