VINCI Autoroutes is testing a charge-as-you-drive system for electric vehicles in live traffic on a French motorway, which could end the need for stationary charging stops, slash the size of EV batteries, increase payload and improve efficiency.
Conducted on the A10 motorway, around 40 kilometers southwest of Paris, the Charge as You Drive project allows electric trucks and other vehicles equipped with receivers to recharge their batteries while driving, via induction coils installed along a 1.5-kilometer stretch of the A10 motorway.
The trial of the dynamic wireless charging system, which follows extensive laboratory testing and durability trials on a closed track, is using prototype vehicles —including a truck, utility vehicle, car, and bus — in real traffic conditions.
VINCI said that the solution could not only dramatically reduce EV batteries and thereby the cost of EVs, but also lower the demand for raw materials and decrease the carbon footprint associated with battery manufacturing, contributing to global decarbonisation goals.
The company has revealed that the initial results of the A10 project demonstrate that dynamic wireless charging is “one of the most promising solutions to accelerate decarbonization of road freight transport”.
At scale, the system under trial would significantly cut CO₂ emissions from road freight transport compared with both diesel use and with heavy trucks using oversized batteries that depend on stationary charging.
Dynamic wireless charging is also the subject of pilots and demonstrators in the US, China, South Korea, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Norway, and Israel.
Its deployment by on a motorway - for the first time in the world - marks an essential new step toward future developments.
Nicolas Notebaert, VINCI President of VINCI Autoroutes and chief executive of concessions at VINCI, said: “At VINCI Concessions, innovation is central to our ambition to build a more sustainable mobility ecosystem.
“The initial results from the A10 motorway trial confirm the potential of dynamic induction charging.
“Deploying this technology on France’s major roadways—alongside existing charging stations—could accelerate the electrification of heavy-duty vehicles and help reduce emissions from the freight and logistics sector, which currently accounts for over 16% of France’s greenhouse gas emissions.”
The live traffic trial is being carried out by VINCI Autoroutes, in collaboration with Electreon, VINCI Construction, Gustave Eiffel University, and Hutchinson.
