6 ms·

This doesn't make much sense as an urban project, where chargers are close by, lane-switching is frequent, people are likely to be on the road, and which the ar

This doesn't make much sense as an urban project, where chargers are close by, lane-switching is frequent, people are likely to be on the road, and which the article invites you to think about by comparing the cost to an urban tram. but it makes ton of sense for long-distance highway journeys, which is a problem that really needs solving before electric vehicles can be practical.

justherefortart 9y ago
This is what the article states. They think the 20K km of highways would be more than enough and based on distance from smaller populated areas as little as 5K km.
Nition 9y ago
Although if you had this everywhere, you could probably do away with most of the batteries on electric cars, making them a lot cheaper and lighter.
- wil421 9y ago
  It would never be everywhere at not in somewhere as vast as Europe or US. To jump on OPs bandwagon. It would make sense to have this on highways as opposed to surface streets. Distance is one of the limiting factors for a lot of people buying electric. In the US interstates are at least maintained by the Feds and are pretty standard in look and feel. It would probably be easier to implement nationwide.
  - 0xffff2 9y ago
    >In the US interstates are at least maintained by the Feds and are pretty standard in look and feel. I don't believe that's true. At least in California, CalTrans does all of the maintenance on state and federal highways alike. AFAIK CalTrans does get paid by the Federal government for interstate maintenance, but that's the extent of the USDOT's involvement in interstate maintenance.
    - wil421 9y ago
      Yes as it turns out they oversee the projects and standards but the actual work is done by state contractors.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > In the US interstates are at least maintained by the Feds No, they aren't. States are encouraged to focus federal funds given to them for road maintenance on the National Highway System, which includes the Interstates, but the maintenance is done by the states. EDIT: missed responding to this bit— > and are pretty standard in look and feel. The look and feel is due to the AASHTO [0], on which the federal government (via DOT) has only non-voting membership, the same as a number of foreign transportation authorities. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Association_of_State_Highway_and_Transportation_Officials https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Association_of_Stat...
    - wil421 9y ago
      You’re right. What I meant was funded by a federal program.
  - kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
    Not going to work in the snow belt. Maintenance on this will be crazy.
    - mwarkentin 9y ago
      Pretty sure Sweden gets snowy? :)
      - kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
        Pretty sure this tech demo will be shelved after they get tired of it breaking down.
        philliphaydon 9y ago
        No way this is another thing they can tax.
- notatoad 9y ago
  At close to $1m per km though, it isn't going to be everywhere.
elihu 9y ago
Even on highways, you wouldn't need this to be on 100% of the roads to be useful. You could have, say, a mile of charging rails for every ten miles of road and on lanes that go uphill. I guess the limit comes down to how much power the rails can produce and how fast the vehicles can charge. If a vehicle can charge at N times the rate they use that energy at highway speeds, then it needs to have at least 1/N of the road populated with charging rails. If this becomes a widely adopted standard, maybe car manufacturers will look into using a low-capacity battery that can accept high current as a buffer. (Maybe a supercapacitor?)
- notatoad 9y ago
  You can get by with significantly less than 1/N I think. The goal doesn't need to be infinite travel distances, just enough to get to the next destination. Personally, I'm unlikely to drive more than 1000km in a day. Any more than that, and I need to rest for longer than it takes a car to charge. If electric rails are placed in the road frequently enough to extend the range of an electric car from 400km to 1000km, they've suddenly made electric more practical than gasoline for long distance travel.
  - dmd 9y ago
    That assumes personal cars, which is one of the things that autonomous cars is likely to change; ideally cars will be in use almost all the time, not sitting idle.

justherefortart 9y ago

This is what the article states. They think the 20K km of highways would be more than enough and based on distance from smaller populated areas as little as 5K km.

Nition 9y ago

Although if you had this everywhere, you could probably do away with most of the batteries on electric cars, making them a lot cheaper and lighter.

wil421 9y ago
It would never be everywhere at not in somewhere as vast as Europe or US. To jump on OPs bandwagon. It would make sense to have this on highways as opposed to surface streets. Distance is one of the limiting factors for a lot of people buying electric. In the US interstates are at least maintained by the Feds and are pretty standard in look and feel. It would probably be easier to implement nationwide.
- 0xffff2 9y ago
  >In the US interstates are at least maintained by the Feds and are pretty standard in look and feel. I don't believe that's true. At least in California, CalTrans does all of the maintenance on state and federal highways alike. AFAIK CalTrans does get paid by the Federal government for interstate maintenance, but that's the extent of the USDOT's involvement in interstate maintenance.
  - wil421 9y ago
    Yes as it turns out they oversee the projects and standards but the actual work is done by state contractors.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > In the US interstates are at least maintained by the Feds No, they aren't. States are encouraged to focus federal funds given to them for road maintenance on the National Highway System, which includes the Interstates, but the maintenance is done by the states. EDIT: missed responding to this bit— > and are pretty standard in look and feel. The look and feel is due to the AASHTO [0], on which the federal government (via DOT) has only non-voting membership, the same as a number of foreign transportation authorities. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Association_of_State_Highway_and_Transportation_Officials https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Association_of_Stat...
  - wil421 9y ago
    You’re right. What I meant was funded by a federal program.
- kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
  Not going to work in the snow belt. Maintenance on this will be crazy.
  - mwarkentin 9y ago
    Pretty sure Sweden gets snowy? :)
    - kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
      Pretty sure this tech demo will be shelved after they get tired of it breaking down.
      - philliphaydon 9y ago
        No way this is another thing they can tax.
notatoad 9y ago
At close to $1m per km though, it isn't going to be everywhere.

elihu 9y ago

Even on highways, you wouldn't need this to be on 100% of the roads to be useful. You could have, say, a mile of charging rails for every ten miles of road and on lanes that go uphill. I guess the limit comes down to how much power the rails can produce and how fast the vehicles can charge. If a vehicle can charge at N times the rate they use that energy at highway speeds, then it needs to have at least 1/N of the road populated with charging rails. If this becomes a widely adopted standard, maybe car manufacturers will look into using a low-capacity battery that can accept high current as a buffer. (Maybe a supercapacitor?)

notatoad 9y ago
You can get by with significantly less than 1/N I think. The goal doesn't need to be infinite travel distances, just enough to get to the next destination. Personally, I'm unlikely to drive more than 1000km in a day. Any more than that, and I need to rest for longer than it takes a car to charge. If electric rails are placed in the road frequently enough to extend the range of an electric car from 400km to 1000km, they've suddenly made electric more practical than gasoline for long distance travel.
- dmd 9y ago
  That assumes personal cars, which is one of the things that autonomous cars is likely to change; ideally cars will be in use almost all the time, not sitting idle.