Deputy Mayor Todd Bettison, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Director Brad Wieferich and other partners celebrated a major milestone in the future of mobility and electrification at the Michigan Central innovation district in Detroit, Mi. as crews have finished installing the nation’s first wireless-charging public roadway.
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Using technology from Electreon, 14th Street between Marantette and Dalzelle streets is now equipped with inductive-charging coils that will charge electric vehicles equipped with Electreon receivers as they drive on the road.
The road will be used to test and perfect this wireless-charging technology in a real-world environment and perfect it ahead of making it available to the public in the next few years, helping to further establish Michigan and Detroit as leaders in innovation and technology.
Electreon’s wireless charging technology is based on inductive coupling between copper coils installed below the road surface and receivers installed on electric vehicles. When a car with a receiver nears the charging segments of road transfer electricity wirelessly through a magnetic field.
This electricity is then transferred as energy to the vehicle's battery, charging it.
These charging segments can transfer wireless electricity to the receiver either when the vehicle is parked (static charging) or is driving in-motion (dynamic charging).
The electric road is safe for drivers, pedestrians and wildlife.
Each coil in the road is activated only when a vehicle with an approved receiver passes over the coil. This ensures that energy transfer is controlled and provided only to vehicles that require it.
Remaining work along 14th Street is expected to continue through the end of 2023, with extensive testing of the inductive charging technology beginning in early 2024.
Using an EV Transit shuttle provided by Ford and equipped with the Electreon receiver needed to collect a charge from the inductive coils, staff will test the efficiency and operations of the shuttle, and potential long-term public transportation opportunities.
“For more than a century, Detroit has been known around the world as the leader in transportation innovation,†said Detroit Mayor, Mike Duggan. “We are birthplace of the auto industry, and the home of the first mile of concrete road and the first three-way traffic signal.
"Today, thanks to Gov. Whitmer and our partners at Michigan Central and Electreon, we can add the nation’s first wireless charging public roadway to that list of innovations." ■