Today, electric cars’ limited autonomy are one of the main obstacles to their massive adoption.
As for now, increasing the vehicles’ autonomy also means increasing the weight of their batteries, therefore resulting in a decrease in the energy performance.
The second use case of the INCIT-EV project aims at quantifying the efficiency of dynamic wireless power transfer – also known as dynamic induction charging – in an urban environment, where vehicles drive at low speed (up to 30 kilometres per hour) and regularly stop at traffic lights.
This technology could help reduce the size of the vehicles’ batteries by up to 80%, making them more affordable, lighter and therefore more energy-efficient.
The associated demonstrator – a 30-coils-long induction charging infrastructure embedded in the base coat of the road – will soon be installed in Paris.
This technological feat is a first at French and international scale. The whole system will only be powered once several experiments have been conducted, under the close supervision of the associated INCIT-EV partners: VEDECOM Institute, Colas, Enedis, Stellantis, the City of Paris and Gustave Eiffel University.
The third use case of the INCIT-EV project also looks into dynamic wireless charging but in a different environment: long distance roads.