What’s the biggest factor that seems to be hindering more consumers from diving in and purchasing an electric vehicle? The lack of a full infrastructure for charging. But it looks like there’s hope for EV owners out there – at least in the UK.
In Britain, sales for electric vehicles have been increasingly exponentially in recent years, something that the government has been paying attention to. Part of the UK government’s future plans is to install plug-in chargers every 20 miles along the highways.
But that’s not all. Highways England, the government company in charge of England’s major thoroughfares, is currently testing a much better solution that could very well prove to be a game changer: highways that directly transmit power to electric vehicles.
High-tech highways
According to a representative of Highways England, one of the main reasons for building the electric highways is to increase the distance for electric vehicles.
By using the new technology in combination with the existing network of plug-in charging stations, a comprehensive ecosystem for electric vehicles will be in place.
How will it work?
Electric cables will be embedded under strategic stretches of the highway, generating and transmitting an electromagnetic field that will then be received by a device underneath an electric vehicle.
Future plans include using renewable energy such as solar power to generate electricity for the roads.
Test run
The first trial runs are scheduled sometime towards the end of the year, on a testing site that simulates a highway. Tests will be conducted for 18 months, after which they’ll then decide whether or not to apply the technology on a much larger scale; possibly on an actual highway.
If the UK does manage to install the electric highways sometime within the next year or two, it’s interesting to note that they won’t be the first country to use the technology – South Korea already has an electric highway running for 15 miles in the city of Gumi.
This is a must-do, because we’re destroying the Earth by keeping using gasoline. Just imagine if this would happen everywhere at a big scale. I, personally, would buy an electric car if I knew it wouldn’t run out of battery on long trips. That’s the main disadvantage. This and the fact that here, in Romania, not all gas stations have car rechargers. So.. yeah, not really worth buying an electric car here.
That’s the first time I’ve heard of a highway that emits electricity, it’s a genius idea! In the years to come electric cars are going to become more and more predominant and electric charging lanes are going to be on a lot of streets. I wish electric cars weren’t that expensive, a lot of people would buy them otherwise.
I live in Romania too and jusApee is right, there are barely any locations where you can re-fill your electric car.