Last week, we covered a fascinating test being conducted by the Israeli company Electreon. Its goal was to drive a Toyota RAV4 Prime in electric mode for 100 hours, stopping only to change drivers. Instead of recharging the 18-kWh battery on a traditional charger, the test car would instead use a wireless charger installed in part of the test track. And believe it or not, they actually pulled it off.
At the time our previous article was published, the team was already two days into the test. At the end of the 100-hour test, the team reportedly drove a little more than 1,200 miles without the assistance of the engine or pulling over to charge. That said, Electreon did claim that it needed the assistance of quite a few drivers — 55 in all.
We’re not exactly expecting this technology to be deployed on every road in the U.S. over the next several years, but we won’t pretend there isn’t a little part of us that hopes the technology eventually proves viable. It would be awesome to be able to drive as long as you wanted without having to refuel, whether it’s recharging an EV or putting gas in your tank.
And while you’re probably still going to need a big battery in a performance EV, if regular cars could get away with smaller battery packs, that would make them lighter, more affordable and safer for others. To us, that sounds like a win all around.
It’s also not as unlikely to ever work as you might think. In addition to projects in Israel, Sweden, Italy, and Germany, earlier this year, Electreon partnered with Ford to develop a mile-long road equipped with wireless charging. If it ends up working in Detroit, there aren’t many places it wouldn’t work. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s promising tech, and it’s exciting to think about lighter, cheaper EVs with unlimited range, but there’s still a lot to figure out before we actually see large parts of our cities offering wireless charging through the road.