DETROIT – Detroit is now home to the first wireless charging roadway in the nation, located on 14th Street near Michigan Central in Corktown.
It looks like your average quarter-mile stretch of road, but it’s much more than meets the eye.
Below the surface are inductive-charging coils that can charge electric vehicles.
“This is where it matters to be, in Detroit, to be where the automotive manufacturers are, to be where innovation can actually scale,” said Electreon Vice President of Business Development Stefan Tongur. “This is a big moment for Electreon.”
Electreon is responsible for the technology used on the road.
Local 4 took a ride with Tongur in an electric vehicle to test out the wireless charging capabilities.
“So as this vehicle is driving, it has a secondary coil underneath where we call a receiver, and it will allow you to get a charge from the primary coil underneath the ground to the secondary coil, the receiver, into the battery,” Tongur said.
Tongur said that charging can happen when vehicles are in motion or stationary.
Electric vehicles must have a receiver to activate the charge. The charging segments will not be in operation without a receiver.
Company officials said wireless roads are safe for all cars, pedestrians, and wildlife.
Michigan Central is hoping to serve as fertile ground to grow and perfect this technology and bring it to the real world.
“It is an amazing step forward. So, if you think about it, well, it is just a quarter mile of road, what we will learn is what’s going to allow for expansion of that and think about the potential of being able to charge through the roads,” Michigan Central CEO Josh Sirefman said.
Tongur said he hopes there will be wireless charging roadways for public use in a few years.