New technology installed beneath Detroit street can charge electric vehicles as they drive

By COREY WILLIAMS
Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — Crews have installed what’s billed as the nation’s first wireless-charging public roadway for electric vehicles beneath a street west of downtown Detroit. Demonstrations were held Wednesday at Michigan Central innovation district, a hub for advancing technologies that address barriers to mobility. Copper inductive charging coils allow vehicles equipped with receivers to charge their batteries while driving, idling or parking above the coils. Michigan’s Department of Transportation says the quarter-mile segment of 14th Street will be used to test and perfect the technology. The wireless charging roadway technology belongs to Electreon. The Israel-based company has contracts for similar roadways in several other countries.