While the full wireless charging functionality aspects of this road are still in the process of being implemented, the road itself has been opened for public use. The project has been underway for quite some time with the road itself first being unveiled back in November of this year.
What is the Wireless Charging Road?
In case you aren’t familiar with it, the wireless charging road is being built in Detroit’s mobility district, around the area of Michigan Central Station. The purpose of this road is a unique approach to developing new ways to make electric car travel more convenient and reliable, by allowing electric cars to charge themselves simply by driving over this road.
While we’re no scientists or engineers, and this seems such much magic as it does a marvel of modern science, the way the wireless charging road works is with specialized coils that are placed inside the pavement of the road. These coils apparently are continuously conducting energy and the cars that would be able to deliver energy to electronic cars that are driving on top of it via a receiver attached to the bottom of the electronic car. The energy transfer is completed wirelessly via a magnetic field while the electric car drives over this road.
When will it open?
That being said, this capability is not yet available to the public and may not be for a bit of time, as according to Michan Central, “extensive testing will be performed on the technology to perfect it.” So while this is an incredibly exciting development for Detroit and the future of eco-friendly transportation as a whole, we will have to be patient for it to be fully ready before we can try it. As far as knowing exactly when this technology will become readily available, it has been reported that long-term plans are in place to implement this wireless technology under US-12, but we can be fairly sure this won’t start until they perfect the technology on 14th Street right here in Detroit.
The company behind the project, Electreon, which is based in Michigan Central’s hub is just one of many startups in the area focused on the future of transportation and mobility.