Could this be the breakthrough electric vehicles need?

By Bob Difley

Can anyone deny that the world is entering potentially one of the most disruptive periods of change in the transportation sector since the internal combustion engine was invented over 100 years ago? The activity surrounding and driving alternative energy vehicle development–hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or all electric (EV)–produces news stories everyday with words like newer, better, larger, smaller, more efficient, and breakthrough in the headlines.

Auto manufacturers and venture capitalists are pouring money into technological advancement of vehicles, batteries, EV  technology, charging systems, and infrastructure.  Garage entrepreneurs and small cap tech companies are scrambling to grab a piece of what could be a very enormous pie, especially when the pie expands to include pick-up truck, delivery truck, RV, and bus size vehicles.

In a step closer to realizing these goals, now IAV Automotive Engineering, a German company with facilities in Michigan, has acquired a patent for their Star Trekie EV wireless road charging system, that magically beams energy to your EV. The technology requires installing electrical conductors into roads that would generate magnetic fields which would charge an EV’s battery as it drives. RFID tags would identify your EV and bill you for the amount of energy used.

This could be a game changer–if it works–and a disaster for all the companies scrambling to establish battery charging and swapping station infrastructures, such as Shai Agassi’s company Better Place. The IAV electric car charging system would not only eliminate range anxiety–one of the biggest hurdles for the EV industry–but the whole system is also resistant to weather and mechanical wear, and has the ability to charge vehicles traveling at high speeds on major highways and freeways as well as while parked.

So far, IAV’s testing shows an impressive 90% efficiency of energy transfer between conductors and vehicles. And to add one more efficiency plus to the system, the conductors have sensors that detect when a vehicle is near so they only operate when necessary. IAV expects that this technology will be commercially available within just three years.