Roads to charge your EV? Wireless charging tech to be put to test
When countries around the world are focusing on building robust charging infrastructure, Italy on the other hand wants to make charging of electric vehicles on the go. It had been reported earlier that Stellantis has planned to retrofit the current infrastructure by developing an inductive charging method to facilitate charging of electric vehicles, parked or in motion. And now, the project enters the testing phase.
The automaker installed the Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer (DWPT) technology under the roadway which is a system of wireless charging. The company has installed it at the closed-circuit built near Italy’s A35 autostrada and it will reportedly start the charging test phase. Called Arena del Futuro (Arena of the Future), this road strip is a 1,050-meter track that has been powered with a 1-Megawatt DWPT system and for the testing p, a Fiat 500 Electric and an Iveco E-Way bus will be used to test the strip's inductive charging capacity.
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Stellantis’ Head of Global E-Mobility Anne-Lise Richard reportedly said that this innovative solution will provide a concrete answer to the issue of range and charging of which owners of EVs are mainly concerned. “We’re accelerating our role of defining the mobility of the future and, in this sense, DWPT technology seems to us to be in line with our desire to offer a concrete response to customers’ requirements. Charging vehicles while they are on the move provides clear advantages in terms of charging times and the size of their batteries," said Richard.
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The path strip will also feature 5G connectivity and Internet of Things (IoT) technology to ensure optimum communication to the commuters. Along with the project, Stellantis is also planning to invest about €30 billion to push the electrification process and develop more advanced software technologies.