Here’s good news for suppliers and wholesalers who would like to move to electric trucks but are hesitant because of how long it takes to recharge: While the U.S. Transportation Department is spending $5 billion over five years to install EV charging stations along some highways, the Indiana Department of Transportation and Purdue University are working to develop a highway that would charge electric cars and trucks as they drive.
The need for truckers in particular to stop and charge a vehicle for hours can be a barrier for companies that want to go green. And the need to charge a car or light truck can deter drivers from switching to electric vehicles from doing so.
Charging on the go makes electric drivers feel less anxious about running out of power, says Steve Pekarek, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue. The technology could also save them money because they don’t need larger batteries.
“The battery typically is a higher cost item. If you can reduce that you don’t need as large a battery, then it reduces the overall cost — potentially — of the vehicle,” Pekarek said.
The partnership will test out magnetic concrete technology developed by a German startup called Magment. “The idea is to transmit energy from a transmitter in a roadway to a receiver in a vehicle with the idea of charging that vehicle as it’s moving,” said Pekarek. Magnets would help to direct that energy to where it needs to go, he explained.
Manning said because magnetic concrete can be used in regular road construction and doesn’t require new infrastructure — it’s cheaper and more protected from the weather than some other technology that charges electric vehicles as they drive.
Purdue researchers will test the system first on its West Lafayette, Ind., campus and then on a stretch of road to determine how well the concrete can charge heavy, high-powered truck. If the tests go well, a portion of Indiana interstate highways will be electrified.
That’s not the only piece of research being conducted at Purdue that may change our nation’s highways. Luna Lu, a civil engineer researcher at Purdue, is studying how to use digital technology to develop roads that are “smart enough” to better prevent their own damage. The roads might look exactly the same. But the materials the roads are made of would have the ability to digitally communicate through technology embedded beneath the surface or repair themselves.
“Our roads won’t get safer if we continue fixing potholes or building infrastructure as we have been building it. We need to think about how to incorporate a digital transformation,” she says. Using sensors could result in fewer repairs throughout the year, less cement production, which would reduce the amount of carbon dioxide created in production. Producing one ton of cement can result in one ton of carbon dioxide, she says. Indeed, she says, it’s possible cement might heal itself in the future.